The old newspaper empires typically operated at the national level, rather than global level (even the Wolff/Reuters/Havas telegraph cartel operated within specific geographical boundaries). Similarly, for-profit companies with quasi-governmental powers operated within specific spheres of influence, plus they were more overt in their powers, e.g. the East India Company had a royal charter giving it the ability to wage war within their territories. Social media platforms, on the other hand, have been directly implicated in bloodshed and interfering with democratic elections all over the world for years, e.g. the Arab Spring and ensuing civil wars, foreign bot farms influencing election results, etc., all under the guise of being innocuous platforms e.g. for sharing funny cat pictures. Not suggesting they should be banned, and I don't think we should just give up and say it is too hard a problem to fix. Just finally accept that social media platforms are dangerous weapons, and treat them as such. Many countries already have good legislation around mixing politics and conventional media, we just need the the legislation to catch up with new media before too much further damage is done.