There's bigger problem here: algorithmic manipulation of public opinion by well funded special interest groups (including some nation states). You can influence elections, legislation, cause riots, etc. with expensive but feasible campaigns of misdirection, fake news, provocation, and propaganda. Online activists are merely pawns; you need to look at the shadowy organizations behind them.

It so happens that the interests of these groups are well aligned with ad driven media companies that depend on manipulating their users into getting addicted with their content algorithmically. This means that provocative content wins over interesting niche content. It drives more users to engage more and come back for more. Bonus points if they get angry and frustrated, because they'll produce more content. Facebook, Twitter literally optimize for addictive quality because it drives their revenue. They want people to continuously check their feeds, have withdrawal symptoms when they don't, etc. It drives a lot of mindless content, constant streams of negativity, etc.

So, our current social media feeds, news media, etc. are highly susceptible to manipulation and the average media consumer is blissfully ignorant of the fact that they are being manipulated.

When it comes to science vs. a well funded special interest group or populist, the truth loses. Proclaiming the earth was flat was highly unpopular in the 15th century for religious reasons. Then we had enlightenment and it became established fact for a while. And now we have anti-vaxers, flat earthers, global warming deniers, christian fundamentalists, muslim fundamentalists, etc. being fed a constant stream of fake news, pseudo scientific bullshit, etc.

Mostly the people behind this manipulation are not even spreading truth but deliberately creating division. E.g. the Russians will happily troll all sides in a debate if it creates conflict. Whether it's e.g. the birther movement, the Clinton email scandal, etc. does not matter. It's not about spreading truth. Whatever gets republicans fuming or liberals protesting will do. It's all about division. Divide and conquer. Distorting the truth is a means to an end. As Trump has demonstrated, you can always deflect undesired attention by creating a bigger scandal. Modern people are like gold fish when it comes to attention spans. People getting to curious about his taxes? No problem, just insult women, blame Obama for whatever, or just plain yell something silly and surreal. It works. He's a great manipulator.

What I find interesting is that the Chinese and Russians seem to be more in control domestically of this and are less sensitive to external manipulation because they do all the manipulation themselves and filter out anything less aligned with the party line. So, China has no anti global warming movement and is moving full speed to fixing that problem for themselves by mass investments. They love science there because it empowers them and boosts their economy. Russia is a bit less successful, mainly because it has devolved into a kleptocracy. But yet, they keep a space program running, are producing scary weapons, etc.

IMHO the way out is introducing reputation into our feeds and countering hostile algorithms with friendly algorithms that take this into account. Also, ad business needs to die and we need to find alternate ways to reward quality news content. Fixing the incentives will fix the algorithms.