> Yet social-media personalities regularly do a 180° turn on some issue ... and still keep their following and ability to monetize it.

And they asserted that they were totally right the entire time. That's how. And the sheep kept on following them.

There are / were a couple of right-wing shillers that were literally paid to promote Russian talking points and they just fit it right into their schtick without blinking.

Nothing on the internet is real. If it wants money or opinion or attention, consider it hostile and try to find the strings (although it's generally not worth the time to try and find the strings, just move on and do something productive instead).

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/05/nx-s1-5100829/russia-election...