How predominant are shills in our society and internet?

"A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with the person or organization. Shills can carry out their operations in the areas of media, journalism, marketing, politics, sports, confidence games, or other business areas. A shill may also act to discredit opponents or critics of the person or organization in which they have a vested interest through character assassination or other means.".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill#Internet .

Typically, shills using straw men and will appear to always be using tactics, as opposed to citations and sources.

Such as: Quoting an opponent's words out of context—i.e., choosing quotations that misrepresent the opponent's intentions.

Oversimplifying an opponent's argument, then attacking this oversimplified version.

Exaggerating (sometimes grossly exaggerating) an opponent's argument, then attacking this exaggerated version.

"A straw man (sometimes written as strawman, also sometimes straw dog[1][2]) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the proper idea of argument under discussion was not addressed or properly refuted.[3] One who engages in this fallacy is said to be "attacking a straw man".".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man .