Topix Underground

The British are right about one thing. Twitter..X...whatever it's called is by far...way far...the most influential force in media and it's caused kind of a contagion that has spread throughout virtually every media form. You cannot trust the veracity of ANY cable news show, network, newspapers, magazines...everything. It is 100% propaganda, motivated by profit, ideology or sheer evil. Truth is not a priority, perception is.

And this is all so well crafted and so dazzling in delivery that you stop caring what the truth is anyhow because that really isn't the point.
The point is reacting blindly and specifically without thought because 'clicks' and 'likes' are the product they sell. Followers, exposure, approval. Every inernet-computer-phone-tv 'feed' is filled with scrollable 'content' designed to mesmerise whoever it is they are trying to influence.  Excuse me for being a traditionalist but I think drugs are much less harmful. This bullshit has hypnotized a huge portion of a generation into being self-loathing, sexually confused nitwits.

As far as product design, it's the same as cigarettes - engineered to maximize the addictive potential.

Near as I can tell, that has always been true of "the media" from the first days of newspapers.  There was a brief time here in the US when that got better, but better is a relative term.

And that is why having and using many different news sources is very important.