Correcting conspiracy misinformation can backfire and entrench the false belief.

Evidence

Notice what follows from confirmation bias: insofar as conspiracism reflects one’s political loyalties, factual correction of unwarranted conspiracism is bound to be very difficult. At least on some accounts, the attempts to correct misinformation can backfire; they increase the extent to which people believe erroneous information. Even when corrections don’t literally backfire, the repetition of conspiracist charges in the course of refuting them may nonetheless embed them in receptive minds. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 119

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Transparency efforts can amplify rather than dispel conspiracism — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 318; Anti-fake-news measures will be gamed once they become targets — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age: How False…, 581; Studying conspiracy beliefs itself triggers defensive backlash from believers. — Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent, American Conspiracy Theories, 154 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Repeating a false claim to debunk it increases its plausibility #corroborates (0.75) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 164
• Inoculation can target faulty reasoning tactics rather than specific facts #responds-to (0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 962
• Corporate misinformation can be refuted; hoax conspiracism cannot #expands (0.72) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 243
• Specific claims are subordinate to a superordinate conspiracy narrative #corroborates (0.70) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 195