I think what happened was that once the internet became widespread and ubiquitous, it empowered a lot of people who were otherwise unable to acquire a massive a

I think what happened was that once the internet became widespread and ubiquitous, it empowered a lot of people who were otherwise unable to acquire a massive audience and spout nonsense propaganda and narratives. In the earlier days of the internet, there was a larger portion of sane people because the barriers to get onto the internet were higher. Also, many crazies didn't understand the power of the internet until in the last decade.