For the first time in a decade, bots account for the majority of online activity — fueling concerns about ad fraud, inflated valuations, and the sustainability of the AI boom.
The milestone
According to cybersecurity firm Imperva, a subsidiary of Thales, automated bots officially surpassed human activity on the internet in 2024, and the gap has widened through 2025. Bots now represent over 50% of all global web traffic, Fortune reports. Roughly 20% are “bad bots” engaged in harmful activities, from scalping tickets and spreading disinformation to generating fake ad clicks.
Why it matters
This shift has real economic consequences:
- Ad fraud: Bots click on ads and simulate sessions, costing companies hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
- Vanity metrics: Startups tout inflated user signups and app downloads — often fueled by bot traffic — which investors may mistake for genuine growth.
- Market risk: Valuations tied to engagement metrics could prove fragile, echoing the dotcom bubble of the 1990s.
Apollo Global’s chief economist Torsten Slok recently warned that today’s top tech companies are more overvalued than during the dotcom era, highlighting the risk that inflated AI-driven hype (and bot-driven data) could end in a painful correction.
Government response
Regulators are stepping in:
- The FTC banned fake or AI-generated consumer reviews in 2024, with fines for companies using bots to mislead customers.
- The BOTS Act, first passed in 2016 and strengthened in 2025, outlaws automated ticket scalping.
- States like California require bots to identify themselves in political or consumer interactions.
Still, enforcement remains patchy, and companies continue to rely on inflated engagement figures to attract investors.
What’s next
If investors and regulators push for third-party verification of user metrics, companies overstating growth could see their valuations collapse. On the other hand, stronger bot-detection could consolidate power around large platforms like Google and Meta, which already control much of the adtech infrastructure.
For now, bots remain both a feature and a flaw of the modern internet: critical for automation and customer service — but also central to one of the biggest risks facing the AI-driven economy.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
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