Some people thought "social media" was a new thing, even though people had been engaging in the same type of shit posting and discussions since dial up modem days. I used to participate in a philosophy forum in the early 1990s. I talked with a woman from what was formerly called Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for a long time about some philosophy topic and then found out she was a hardcore anti-black sort of comic book charicature white nationalist. I tried my best to argue that identity politics is for losers, but my arguments were pretty feeble in the face of her family being dispossed.
If you're a theory-person and are more analytically minded, extreme points of view are "interesting" and worth investigation or study even if you totally disagree and you can even have empathy for someone who holds a point of view that the mainstream thinks is abhorrent. Most people, though, aren't analytically minded and form opinions based on aesthetic and political considerations. For whatever reason they think even hearing a contrary opinion threatens their politics. The ideas you find out in the wild of the Internet are threatening to them the same way some people are afraid of coyotes or wolves.
It is appalling to see how quickly rank and file democrats knee-jerked to Internet censorship as a reaction to a lifeling influence peddlar shitbag politician losing an election. I guess it's no surprise though, since people similarly allowed more government interference in their lives after 9/11.
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