If it seems like society is far more fragmented now and people are living in disparate realities, it's because we are. Psychological tools were combined with micro-targeting voters, in order to change their perceptions. Facebook, with all its 'Likes', produces a constellation of information on individuals that allows psychological profiles to be created on them. This in turn was used to micro-target voters with misleading and blatantly false messages and content. This is psy-op political warfare and it's not a wild conspiracy. These tactics were not only used in the US election, but also for Brexit.
One of the architects of the system used to manipulate people is Christopher Wylie. He's recently blown the whistle on Cambridge Analytica. This short video gives an introduction to what's going on.
In the video he says, "We risk fragmenting society in a way that we no longer have shared experiences and shared understandings." They didn't risk it. They did it. That is why people seem to be living in alternative realities today. This is clearly demonstrated when conservative posters here even recognize that the "alt-right" is
not conservative. Asked by an interviewer if this kind of targeting of people is bullying, Christopher Wylie responded, "It's worse than bullying because people don’t necessarily know it’s being done to them. At least bullying respects the agency of people because they know. So it’s worse, because if you do not respect the agency of people, anything that you’re doing after that point is not conducive to a democracy. And fundamentally, information warfare is not conducive to democracy.”
If all of this is true, and the evidence around us suggests that it is, then the damage done by Cambridge Analytica and these people is far more devastating than anyone currently realizes. This kind of fragmentation has only ever been resolved throughout history with violence. When you fragment and polarize society, one side will destroy the other or both will destroy each other, before society can be a coherent whole again.
This article goes into far more detail than the video, so it's well worth reading; however, it is
very long. This isn't being reported by some conspiracy rag online. This has been thoroughly researched by
The Guardian. So it's worth the time to understand what's going on.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/data-war-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-faceook-nix-bannon-trump?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other