The legacy, industrial-era institutions are what support abundant and cheap access to information.
If belief in our traditional institutions crumbles due to cheap information, information asymmetry once again will rise, returning us to the prior era.
It takes coordination and peace to operate a globally-available internet, that enables us to have cheap communication and access information.
What does it take to offer the internet in its current form? Massive infrastructure, cables running every which way across countries and oceans, electricity, etc-- and governments protect that infrastructure.
If order and stability is lost to the extreme viewpoints the internet enables, and eroding trust in our existing institutions, there will no longer be necessary support for the infrastructure that enables free, open, cheap communication.
I tend to agree, but I actually don’t think peace is prerequisite. The internet was designed during the Cold War and was designed in a way to be resilient to massive fallout of the network (nuke safe). While, I do agree that if the establishment is not pleased with the openness of the internet they will attempt to regulated/censor it more heavily, but I think it’s too late. Attempts to regulate the internet would be met with massive resistance. Maybe, I am just slightly delusional about how much people care though, especially considering net neutrality in the states
It's hard to say what the political class thinks of things like Breitbart. To them, it might just be another tool to win elections. People generally vote with their emotions, and not based on policy -- driving home feelings of anger, fear, or resentment to "the other side" might just be another tool in the tool belt of keeping turnout high.
If belief in our traditional institutions crumbles due to cheap information, information asymmetry once again will rise, returning us to the prior era.