People who became power users of Google — or worse, relied on its functionality to perform their jobs — have likely noticed the once seemingly omniscient search engine has changed.
On the social platform X, Bobby Wagner (@bwags) recently acknowledged a significant decline in Google's ability to find things online, and the post's virality underscored the severity of the issue.
it's pretty incredible how unusable search is on almost every part of the internet now. a product that worked almost without fail for 7-10 years is just utterly incoherent. it's as if every search feature on every website simply does not understand the words you've typed https://t.co/PhLDkJQu9Q
— Bobby Wagner (@bwags) April 5, 2026
Wagner said it was "pretty incredible" that general search functionality had eroded so sharply, adding: "A product that worked almost without fail for 7-10 years is just utterly incoherent."
Claims that core portions of the internet have failed entirely or deteriorated to a point of uselessness are not new.
"Dead Internet Theory" emerged on an imageboard in the late 2010s, asserting that the internet "died" in 2016, leaving a bot-populated shadow in its place. Moreover, Y Combinator posters discussed Google's slow demise in a 2021 discussion thread.
Wagner's viral post Saturday coincided with a high-profile collision between real life and digital life — a 20-year-old California woman sued Instagram's parent company, Meta, along with Google's YouTube, alleging that the platforms knew their products were harmful and habit-forming.
A jury sided with the plaintiff, ordering both companies to pay millions of dollars in compensatory damages.
The verdict was repeatedly described as a "bellwether" in the media, and it was expected to open the door to innumerable similar suits.
As for Wagner's tweet, other users agreed — with many asserting Google's quality decline was part of a broader plan to force AI adoption.
"They made Ai look 'better' by making everything else worse & indie web sites more expensive to maintain... Most of what Ai does now is really what old google search did years before," one replied.
TCD Picks » Quince Spotlight
💡These best-sellers from Quince deliver affordable, sustainable luxury for all
|
Which of these savings plans for rooftop solar panels would be most appealing for you?
Click your choice to see results and earn rewards to spend on home upgrades. |
Save $1,000 this year 💸 "This is on purpose so that you search more and see more ads," another speculated.
However, the problem was perhaps best summarized in a now-classic tweet from December 2023.
"It used to be you went online to search 'fleece lined work pants 30x30' and [Google] returned a handful of results that met your criteria," it began.
"Thanks to technological improvements, that is no longer possible."
Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices — and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD's exclusive Rewards Club.
Cool Picks
