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Does Lemmy have a bot problem?

https://lemmy.world/post/35843401

Does Lemmy have a bot problem? - Lemmy.World

After reading and responding to a few unhinged posts recently, it got me thinking about the dead internet theory and potential foreign influences. I don’t remember the level of discourse being this poor a year or two ago. I know other social media platforms have major bot issues, I had hoped this platform would be different. But I can’t think of any mechanisms built into this platform that would prevent a well crafted bot from running rampant. The people that I interact with in my day to day are all mostly chill. We all have our issues, but most everyone is doing their thing helping each other out getting through the day. Then I hop on here and folks sound like they’re ready to break out the guillotines and do something terrible to their neighbors. Are these just keyboard warriors trying to sound tough to strangers online? Are they just kids trolling for laughs? Or bots set up with the intention of raising the temperature? I don’t know, what do you guys think?

Sep 13, 2025 at 3:27amWeb
Show threadFizzSep 13, 2025
I dont think they’re bots. They are angry people what you’re reading is human expression raw and uncensored.
Show threadkassiopaeaSep 13, 2025

I’ll admit I don’t spend enough time on here to have a well-formed opinion, but aside from the occasional obvious spam post, I don’t see a lot of obvious bot activity… Depending on the instance/community, you’re going to get a lot of very strong and, uh… controversial opinions.

Keep in mind that the (still relatively) niche nature of Lemmy/Piefed (and the fediverse writ large) means that a higher proportion of people around here are going to be far from the center of the political gradient… and the western world is very much experiencing a cultural/political paradigm shift which is driving people to the fringes.

I also think that a lot more people are using the platform than a year or two ago and that has knock-on effects on moderation that we still need to figure out how to deal with.

Show threadbetterdeadthanredditSep 13, 2025
Where’s the tech-related news or article for this post?
Show threadDominusOfMegadeusSep 13, 2025
The real tech related news or article is the human friends we made along the way of the anti-bot journey we embarked on together!
Show threadFondotsSep 13, 2025

Except for a few obvious spam posts, I’m pretty hard-pressed to think of any specific posts or comments I’ve seen that struck me as bots (although to be fair, I’m there may be some bias due to which communities I choose to follow)

There are, however, plenty of idiots, people who don’t speak fluent English, trolls and other people whose motivations may not be purely good-faith discussion, people who probably have various types of neurodivergence and/or mental health issues

And I could see some of those categories being very easily mistaken as a bot under a lot of circumstances.

Show threadnullrootSep 13, 2025
I have not felt this way about Lemmy whereas I feel this way about YouTube comments and Reddit. Bots are indeed most of the internet content and traffic these days, but it doesn’t change the amount of real people and content on the Internet, just makes it harder to find.
Show threadDominusOfMegadeusSep 13, 2025
This very post could, in fact, be interpreted as a very subtle attempt by a political troll to foment internal chaos, dissension, and strife, amongst the liberal resistance in our increasingly fascist country.
Show threadcmnyboSep 13, 2025
I haven’t really noticed any obvious bot activity, at least in the communities that I’m subscribed to. I’m sure there is probably some, but it’s nothing like reddit.
Show threadEngywookSep 13, 2025

Are these just keyboard warriors trying to sound tough to strangers online?

Plenty of these on Lemmy.