Summary
- The Wikimedia Foundation detected an anomalous increase in bot accesses from Brazil and implemented a new detection system.
- The system revealed an 8% drop in real traffic, as part of the lost access came from bots and AI.
- According to the foundation, AIs and chatbots have a direct impact on access, as they provide answers with data from Wikipedia without the need to open the site.
The Wikimedia Foundation, responsible for Wikipedia, revealed this Friday (10/17) that user traffic fell approximately 8% between March and August compared to the same period in 2024. The organization observed the drop after implementing a new bot detection system.
In a post on the official blog, Wikimedia explained that it implemented the new system after investigating, in May 2025, abnormal traffic coming from Brazil. According to the foundation, many bots that extract data from websites are sophisticated and pretend to be real users.
With the new detection technology, the organization reclassified access data. “We found that much of the unusually high traffic in the May and June period came from bots created to avoid detection,” the post states.
After the cleanup, Wikimedia now has a clearer view of the scenario that, in fact, points to a real drop in the number of human visitors. For the foundation, the decrease in access is a reflection of the impact of generative AI and social networks on the way people search for information.
Impact on direct visits
Despite the drop in direct traffic, Wikimedia argues that Wikipedia content has never been more consumed. However, now, much of this consumption is indirect thanks to AI search tools and chatbots, such as ChatGPT. They are trained on Wikipedia data and deliver answers directly to users, eliminating the need to click and visit the original source.
The organization recognizes that the phenomenon is not exclusive to Wikipedia and affects other portals and content creators on the web. “This means that people are reading the knowledge created by Wikimedia volunteers across the internet, even if they don’t visit wikipedia.org”, points out the foundation.
The organization’s fear is that this dynamic will become unsustainable in the long term. With fewer visits, the company fears a scenario in which fewer volunteers work on the content. The financial aspect is also a concern, due to the decrease in individual donors.
Wikipedia tries to stay relevant
In the text, Wikimedia appeals to technology companies that use the content of the online encyclopedia to encourage users to visit the original sources. The idea is to ensure that the free knowledge ecosystem continues to exist and grow.
To combat the trend, the foundation says it is working on new fronts. Among them, improving the editing experience on mobile devices and the “Future Audiences” project. The initiative seeks to bring knowledge from Wikipedia to platforms popular among young people, such as TikTok, YouTube and Roblox, through videos and other formats.
Internally, the foundation tries to prevent the publication of bad articles clearly made with AI. In August, the editor community approved a new policy that allows the quick deletion — that is, without going through the discussion process — of content created by chatbots without human review.
Source: https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/apos-onda-de-bots-do-brasil-wikipedia-perde-trafego-para-a-ia/
