That’s an age-old problem, just scaled up. There has always been misinformation in social media (and before that in every bar). In the US it’s especially bad, mostly because the GOP profits directly from misinfo and has done as much damage as possible to the education system to ensure it stays that way. That’s also the reason there wont be any legislation regarding labeling of AI content (which is preferrable, but not enforceable even today) coming from your continent in the next few decades, sorry :-(

That might still be a “good” thing. More people than before become aware that what they see in social media is not reality, but entertainment that might or might not be real. It could lead to a general rejection of the notion that SM shows the truth.

But all in all it is still of no importance if it’s imagery to give cozy feelings because of cute animals like in the meme. An entertaining story does not have to be true to be entertaining, and in the same vein a cute pet image doesn’t have to depict a real pet to be cute.