This happened to some degree with WWII, and the accusation is less that people are radicalised and more that they are given a target for their frustration. Thi

This happened to some degree with WWII, and the accusation is less that people are radicalised and more that they are given a target for their frustration. This TED talk summarises it well. You are correct that certain media in the UK very much laid decades of foundations, and also the government with its austerity measures arguably created much of the environment conducive to radicalisation. https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_... I guess I want to say that the fact the situation is far more nuanced than "the Russians did it" neither excuses it nor does it render those actions irrelevant. They seem to be a fairly clear piece of the puzzle. I'm also sure that all our secret services have been at similar games for years so it's ok to have little sympathy too, but Facebook targeting did get in the way of scrutiny and oversight of these messages which is really problematic for democracy. [edit] fix typo