There was a time when Google felt like a gateway to knowledge. No ads, no noise, just a simple page that loaded in seconds and helped you find exactly what you needed. The company’s mission was clear: to make the world’s information universally accessible and useful. But in 2025, using the internet can feel more like wading through an endless swamp of spam, clickbait, and artificial clutter.
The shift is impossible to ignore. Where search engines once provided straightforward results, users now often feel like they are negotiating with an uncooperative robot, hoping it understands their query. Even then, the results can be a chaotic mess. A viral Reddit thread illustrated this perfectly when a user searched for news about John Wick 5 and was bombarded with fake AI-generated trailers, incorrect director names, and speculative articles. Actual information was buried under layers of misleading content, only surfacing after scrolling through countless irrelevant results.
This is not just anecdotal frustration. Studies show search engines are struggling to fight back against SEO spam. The top results are no longer the most reliable or relevant. They are simply the most successful at gaming the algorithm. As a result, users often click on poorly written, low-quality content designed purely to climb the rankings, rather than offering anything of substance.
Google’s response has been to introduce AI-generated overviews that summarise information directly on the results page. While this might seem convenient, it risks amplifying the problem. These summaries can be riddled with inaccuracies, like the bizarre examples of AI suggesting people add glue to pizza sauce or claiming smoking during pregnancy is healthy. By keeping users within Google’s ecosystem, the incentive to visit external, potentially more reliable sources disappears, leaving people more dependent on AI than ever.
It is not just search results that are suffering. Google Images and YouTube are now overflowing with AI-generated content. Searching for something as harmless as a baby peacock might return mostly artificial images. Meanwhile, YouTube is crowded with fake trailers and misleading videos designed to rack up millions of views through deception.
This shift is about more than just convenience. It is fundamentally changing how we interact with information. The more polluted search engines become, the harder it is to trust what we find online. It discourages thoughtful exploration and encourages reliance on algorithms, slowly turning the internet into an echo chamber of recycled, distorted content.
The solution might be to take back control. Use date filters to escape the flood of AI content. Follow trusted creators directly rather than hoping the algorithm points you to them. Most importantly, stay aware of the invisible forces shaping the information you consume. The internet does not have to be a landfill of misinformation. Reclaiming it starts with conscious, deliberate action.
This video explains it all perfectly.
