Business

Is the internet broken?

75% of the world is online, and in many ways it makes all our lives better. But faced with AI slop, misinformation and toxicity, many people are asking: Is there a better way?

IndiaNews16 desk BBC Business July 21, 2026 1 min read

Is the internet broken? — Business Image source: BBC Business

Is the internet broken?

Around 75% of the world's population is online and - in many ways - this makes all our lives better.

But faced with a barrage of ads, misinformation, AI slop, toxicity and doom-scrolling, it can feel like the internet is kind of... broken.

What happened?

And where are we headed next?

Featuring interviews with: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Matthew Williams from Hatelab, author and activist Cory Doctorow and Adele Zeynep Walton from Logging Off Club.

Big thanks to students at the University of Cardiff.

Made by BBC Ideas in partnership with UKRI, external Using AI to tackle online hate, external Watch the The Tech Billionaire Takeover on BBC iPlayer Find out more about Logging Off Club, external Film by Daniel Nils Roberts 💡Watch more videos at BBC Ideas Published 14 minutes ago Share page About sharing