Where Did All The Humans Go? A Story of Robots and Social Media Refugees

FYI - Don't miss our original comic inspired by reality: Social Media Funeral

SXSW used to be the conference social media brands launched at but is now where they go to die. Case in point: I threw a wake for Digg at SXSW.

Except at the time I didn’t realize it was a wake, and neither did the 100 or so folks who showed up for the first community-led IRL Digg meetup. There was free booze, a giant cardboard Digg mascot, a step & repeat backdrop, tactical shovel photo props, and more. I designed (and purchased) way too many IRL sticker badges that were going to also show up on Digg profiles. Folks inside Digg had reached out to help me organize and spread the word, and I even found a sponsor (howdy Howdy!) equally nostalgic about that entire period of social web. The majority of attendees were Austin-based, both new users and OGs like Brian Brushwood of Scam School. Nearly everyone knew of the platform’s past, and were excited about its potential in comparison to every other major social network. The ideals it represented were enough to formulate the beginnings of a new community, even before the technology stepped up its usefulness. Honestly it was a great party, and everyone was already asking about the next one. 

For the uninitiated, Digg is the pioneering community news site founded by Kevin Rose in 2004 that once rivaled Reddit as the internet's front page before a disastrous 2010 redesign drove its users away. Rose (along with former rival Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian) acquired the brand in March 2025 with an ambitious pitch: a human-centered community platform that would use AI to fight the bot infestation plaguing modern social media, restoring the authentic, user-driven discovery that defined the early web. 

Things did not go as planned.

Exactly 24 hours after the IRL meetup, Digg announced it was abruptly shutting down – just two months after its public launch.

Digg’s Cylon moment + Verifying humanity requires humans