A Wave of Unexplained Bot Traffic Is Sweeping the Web

image via WIRED

February 12, 2026, 7:50 PM

• •A wave of bot traffic from China and Singapore is impacting websites globally.
• •The bots' origins are linked to major Chinese cloud companies, raising data privacy and security concerns.
• •Website owners are experiencing distorted traffic analytics, and facing increased costs.
• •Many website owners are actively working to block the bots, but the issue is ongoing.

Website owners worldwide are facing a surge of bot traffic originating from China and Singapore, with the bots' origins often traced to major Chinese cloud companies. These bots, potentially involved in data harvesting for AI training, have significantly skewed website analytics, causing concerns about bandwidth costs and advertising revenue. While the bots do not appear malicious, their impact includes distorted traffic data and decreased advertising value for website operators. The issue has prompted website owners to implement strategies like blocking specific IP addresses and ASNs to mitigate the bot traffic.

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