Objecting to or correcting disinformation published on Twitter is not a smart move. Why so?
A small study has concluded this, with scientists attempting to correct fairly obvious falsehoods on social media in a polite manner. "Our findings are not encouraging. Even very polite explanations or corrections to inaccurate or false claims on Twitter triggered an avalanche of further nonsense, as well as anger and even abuse."
The researchers chose 2,000 Twitter users with very diverse political views who had previously shared articles containing clearly false information. When attempting to correct this false information in a very polite and correct manner, by providing specific references to factually correct and accurate information, the researchers encountered the opposite - the accuracy and truthfulness of information plummeted, especially rapidly in situations where someone with shared political leanings sought to clarify the information.