As it happens in most things related to media, the left blazed a trail and the right perfected the exploitation techniques.
The internet in the '90s was a fervour of "indie media", "citizen reporting", "the revolution will not be televised", culminating in the Iraq war build-up, which was a watershed of sorts. Now the exact same attitudes are being exploited in a coordinated manner by the right, anti-vaxxers, astroturfers and other special interests.
This is not just a US phenomenon, by the way -- the same can be observed pretty much globally.
The internet in the '90s was a fervour of "indie media", "citizen reporting", "the revolution will not be televised", culminating in the Iraq war build-up, which was a watershed of sorts. Now the exact same attitudes are being exploited in a coordinated manner by the right, anti-vaxxers, astroturfers and other special interests.
This is not just a US phenomenon, by the way -- the same can be observed pretty much globally.