Yeah, that’s the thing, this is not the first time we as a society have had to deal with a very ugly information space. During the mid- to late-1800’s in the United States there was the rise of yellow journalism that was characterized by hysterical headlines, fabricated stories, and plenty of mudslinging. The penny papers of that day were only profitable because they could sell advertising and then reach lots of eyeballs. All of which sounds a lot like today’s big social media companies. Add recommendation algorithms into today’s mix and the problem has become that much worse. We got out of that cycle only because people lost a taste for the extreme sensationalism, and journalists began to see themselves as stewards of objective and accurate information with an important role in democracy. It’s still not clear how we can make a similar transition today, but lots of us are working on it.