RW, I apologize, I was sure your covid information sources looked like coming from social media. Sorry if I imputed wrong. I asked several times, I don’t think you replied, so I made an assumption.
I agree on the destructive nature of it. The main reason seem to be that the “recommendation” algorithm is optimized to keep eyeballs on, so people get confirmation on what they happen to think at the moment, rather than multiple information sources that make you more education. Almost like R Yohanan when he was sent a hevrusa that agreed with everything instead of Resh Lakish who argued.