If I'm understanding this correctly, it's always been true but there has also always been some "real" content on the internet. We're all on a site right now that, say what you like about it, it isn't bot spam.

If looked for warez or porn in the late '90s, there was always some kind of circular ad and scam infested network of links promising stuff but never going anywhere. It's more sophisticated now and there's more of it, and it's expanded into shopping and travel and hotels and recipies and whatever else. But there's also more real content.