Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem seems to be inherent to public social networks. Facebook and messaging apps like WhatsApp Telegram etc tend to be free of this cesspool, but most public networks (twitter, Reddit, instagram, YouTube) seem to inevitably devolve into it. Hacker news has been surprisingly resilient though.
HN is a niche forum with heavy moderation. Trolls get hell-banned incredibly quickly and so they can't form a critical mass.
I suspect if someone like the subreddit that will not be named got interested HN would be impossible to stop the carnage. The best parts of the internet are also the worst.