May 19, 2026

Science Cafe: Why the current internet sucks

Media scholars Lucie Chateau and Michael Stevenson, and legal scholar Catalina Goanta on how Big Tech killed the internet.

Location: Neude Library

Organiser: Utrecht University

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Media scholars Lucie Chateau and Michael Stevenson, and legal scholar Catalina Goanta on how Big Tech killed the internet.

AI-generated posts, influencers selling stuff you don’t need, and bots in the comments. The chaotic, creative and deeply personal free space that the internet was once, is gone. Now, it’s shaped by big tech’s algorithms and filled with ads. Experts call this “enshittification.” How did this happen?

Media scholar Michael Stevenson (UvA) looks back at the web’s utopian ideals. Social media researcher Catalina Goanta (UU) examines how influencer culture and platform economies have reshaped our identities and attention. Lucie Chateau (UU) explores the ‘dead internet theory’, asking whether capitalism has remade it into a space by bots, for bots. How can we make the internet human again?

Reservations are not necessary.

Find oure mor about the event here.