Payments have also been paused for 2 years with no interest. I can say personally I have left the money “sitting around”, because there is literally no reason to pay the loans when you can just invest (or otherwise let inflation devalue the debt) and pay later

Conspiracy theory-type ideas are a threat, but I just want to add on that many partial truths or inaccuracies or falsehoods appealing to biases spread even more easily too. Depending on your side of the debate, you can make well-cited cases for or against minimum wage increasing unemployment, or immigration lowering wages. I haven't researched, but I bet mail-voting fraud too. To the point where the real truth isn't even clear, but people don't recognize the uncertainty.

I'm not sure if this ever hasn't been an issue, but it kinda comes to the heart of fact-checking. I think treating the kinds of falsehoods that get spread online as just obvious conspiracy-theories by nutjobs puts your guard down for things that sound and feel right, but are wrong.