I certainly blame big tech for a lot of things, but I don't necessarily want to blame them for directly causing this.
Let me suggest that the effect might be indirect. In other words, their business model is hurting the local community papers and when those community papers go down, basically misinformation kind of fills the void. All the bonds that the community newspapers used to create are now shrivelled, people feel isolated and they lash out. They no longer feel a connection to their community.
Whether or not that is a scheme.... I don't want to suggest that big tech is scheming for that end and that was the objective. They're not evil, I don't think, but I do think that evil has occurred.
I think that the most important thing now is, rather than trying to castigate or throw stones, that we should just figure out how we get money back into the pockets of the local newspapers.
To me, the most efficient route to doing so is to set up a design mechanism in which the two platforms can write a cheque for the value they're appropriating. It will be determined by an arbitrator. That money should flow back to these community newspapers and hopefully they can restore all the great things they did before they were taken out.