According to the research, those at risk include important government information, news, academic affiliations and social media data.
Researchers from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the Internet is becoming increasingly unstable and more web pages are disappearing. ECOticias writes about this.
The article states that experts were “shocked” by this strange phenomenon. According to the research, 39% of web pages active since 2013 have already disappeared. Additionally, according to the Pew Research Center, 9% of web pages created between 2013 and 2023 have also disappeared. This includes important government information, news articles, and academic references.
Particularly popular online resource Wikipedia suffers from this problem. More than half of the posts on the site contain at least one broken link. This phenomenon, called “link rot,” occurs when hyperlinks break or target websites no longer exist.
The problem affects not only regular websites but also social networks. For example, 15% of tweets are deleted within a few months of being posted, and entire social media accounts can “disappear with one click.”
Important
“This phenomenon raises a chilling question: Can we preserve the Internet for future generations, or is our digital history in danger of being lost forever?” the article said. he says.
As noted in the post, organizations like the Internet Archive are fighting to preserve digital history, but governments and private companies need to be involved in solving the problem. We are specifically talking about the implementation of government policies aimed at protecting critical digital resources. Individuals can also contribute through simple actions such as backing up data, saving web pages, participating in archiving projects, etc.
“In this age of rapidly disappearing digital information, it is more important than ever to ensure that our online heritage survives for future generations to discover, reference and understand,” the publication said.
Let us remind you that Geert Lovink, a professor at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, believes that sooner or later the Internet will not become a suitable platform for the exchange of ideas.
It has also been reported that artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity wants to change the way people use the internet, but does so by breaking internet etiquette.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.