Libera.Chat Openly and Publicly Admits It Has an LLM Slop Problem (Chatbots in Its Channels)
Another observation affirming our decisions to run our own IRC network (we started in May 2021, i.e. 5 years ago):
The front page of Libera.Chat, writing at the end of last week, admitted that the network had been flooded by chatbots or time-wasting slop.
According to netsplit.de, action was taken accordingly on Friday (same time as the announcement):
So it looks like these bots are coming back. How long for did they come in to take over? Here is some context:
So it looks like thousands of bots managed to sneak in during 2026. To be clear, bots alone aren't nasty per se, but ones that spew out fake text or chaff or misinformation are a major nuisance.
A lack of quality control (not censorship/moderation) let chatbots ruin the experience for real users. If there's a policy that bans chatbots (not humans), there's even a moral imperative for it. █