More than half of all web traffic is generated by bots, and almost 40% of that traffic comes from malicious bots.

Omissions

• The figures come from a single industry report (the Thales/Imperva 'Bad Bot Report 2026', based on the company's observed traffic sample) rather than an official statistics office; other measurement studies report lower overall bot shares (e.g. one tracker put bots at ~35% of traffic in mid-2026).
• The 'almost 40%' figure refers to malicious/bad bots as a share of all web traffic (40% of total traffic), consistent with the report's framing; if read as 40% of bot traffic alone the figure would differ.
• The 2026 Bad Bot Report (2025 data) was published in early 2026, before the 2026-07-07 session, so the MEP could have known this data.

Sources

• PrimaryImperva (Thales) — Bad Bot Report 2026: Bots in the Agentic AgeAccording to Imperva's 2026 Bad Bot Report, automated bot traffic accounted for more than 53% of all web traffic in 2025, up from 51% the year before.
• PrimaryThales Group — press release: AI-driven Bot Attacks Surged 12.5x According to Thales Bad Bot ReportBots now dominate the internet, accounting for over half of all traffic, with 40% classified as malicious.
• SecondarySecurityBrief UK — Bots make up 53% of web traffic, Thales report saysThales' 2026 Bad Bot Report found that bots accounted for 53% of web traffic in 2025, with 40% of that traffic classified as malicious.
• SecondaryStatista — Chart: Bad Bots Are Taking Over the WebMore than half of global web traffic is now generated by bots, accounting for 53 percent in 2025. Within that, malicious bots alone make up a large share.