I think anyone with an opinion is getting shat on, in this day and age. There are many influential billionaires but most of them just work in the shadow and try to keep a low profile publicly, which I find far more suspicious. A lot of people just cannot confront themselves with counter-arguments and unfortunately are unable to process that reality is never black or white. I love debates because I think they allow us to expand our perspective and expand our knowledge on a situation far more efficiently than one-sided arguments, but this is not possible on the internet and that’s pretty sad. I agree it’s all manipulation, either by repetition or by preventing access to counter-information. The search for information should always include various sources (even sources considered wrong and untrustworthy) because that gives a “middle line” which is closer to the truth in many instances.