> Look at what happened with Q-Anon - just a slow stream of text messages issued by some guy in his basement, but enough to rile up millions into believing something totally ridiculous (baby-eating politicians, etc).

That's not really the whole story though. The reason why a ridiculous thing like that gets legs, is because there isn't push back from the Republican party. They are happy to let these things go on, and they even involve themselves in it. They even elect people who believe in these theories to office, who then go on to perpetuate them.

Remember back when a gunman invaded a pizza parlor because he thought the Democratic party was running some sort of child trafficking ring in the basement? The Republican party could have, at that time, mounted a full-throated defense of Hillary Clinton, to say that of course she is not doing that, and to think so is completely insane. But they don't do that, because then they would have to defend Hillary Clinton, or any other Democrat. So they let the lie hang out there, unaddressed because it helps them politically, and it metastasizes.

So really, yes the Internet is a problem. But the real problem is that people in power are using it for this kind of thing on purpose, and it works.