That's really terrible history, and judging by your UID you ought to be old enough to know better.
It amazes me that people forget Donald Trump was elected in 2016 with a huge assist from his Twitter following. Twitter was always a shitshow, and having personally dealt with one of the executives responsible back then, I am not surprised.
That climate existed long before Elon. The main difference now is that they have 85% fewer employees to schedule endless meetings with. The site runs as badly as it ever has, but not worse, contrary to the predictions here on Slashdot.
Online balkanization and extremism also goes back to forums like Facebook groups in the early 2010s. We once celebrated it: remember press coverage of the "Arab Spring"?
Occupy, BLM 1.0, Unite the Right, Standing Rock, and many others took shape in echo chamber internet groups. What they had in common is the loss of hope by many different groups of people in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and the Obama administration's failure to hold anyone accountable. The electorate has been in rebellion ever since.