Peoplebots

Visits that look like people but mostly aren't. Programs driving real browsers through ordinary home internet connections around the world, so they pass as visitors from someone's living room. This is what dead internet theory really worries about: not the bots that announce themselves, but the ones dressed as people. They open one page, take what they came for and leave without ever touching it. A visit only counts as a person once someone touches the screen, moves the mouse, scrolls or presses a key, and very few programs bother. Now and then it's someone who opened a page and left without touching anything.

Worth knowing: the people whose connections are used mostly don't know. Some installed an app that pays a little for “sharing spare internet”, some agreed to it in the small print of a free app, VPN or browser extension, and some own a cheap TV box or streaming stick that came with it already installed.