This kind of "epistemic collapse" via propaganda is an established method of subverting nation states, Russia has been doing it for decades.

Democracy relies on having a reasobaly well informed population. The problem today is that it takes ten times more effort to refute bullshit than to spread it. Information hygiene is becoming a very big problem in this anything-goes social media environment.

Traditional mass media had journalistic norms and standards, nowadays anyone can claim anything with no quality control.

It's the same age old story: there simply is no substitute for good governance, Italy doesn't have it and hasn't had it for decades, and "freedom of speech absolutists" wouldn't know what it looks like in the first place.