The bot problem is worse than you think

You already suspect this, but the numbers are worth saying out loud: a meaningful share of online "conversation" is no longer written by anyone. Estimates vary, but every serious one trends the same direction — up.

It's not just the obvious stuff. The reply guys, the engagement farms, the eerie comments under news articles. It's the slow ambient hum underneath everything: posts written for the model, by the model, optimised for whatever it is the model thinks works.

Why the platforms aren't fixing it

Bot traffic is, on paper, traffic. Bot impressions are, on paper, impressions. Bot engagement makes the chart go up and to the right.

If your business depends on the chart going up and to the right, fixing the bot problem looks a lot like cutting your own revenue.

Why it matters

You can argue this is harmless — that fake noise is just noise, and you'd ignore it anyway. We don't think that holds up. The feed is the room. If most of the room is talking to itself, you start tuning out the actual people in it.

The fix isn't smarter detection. It's a smaller room where you know who got let in.

What we're doing about it

Hi Friction verifies every user as a human, continuously. Not by demanding ID. Not by selling your data. By doing the small, awkward checks the big platforms decided weren't worth the conversion cost.

We think they are.