I don't know. Trump's popularity was definitely fueled by the social media. QAnon started as a meme on 4chan.
I think it's a mistake to overstate the effect but it's definitely there and it seems different than even Obama's use of social media, which was considered revolutionary at the time.
Of course there is no way to prove it but when you go from a few broadcasting institutions to a situation where everybody is a broadcaster, then we should not be surprised to see some pretty wild effects that the inventors of democracy certainly didn't think of in 500 B.C.
