Testing the resilience of fact checks against rhetorical challenge

Testing the resilience of fact checks against rhetorical challenge | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Testing the resilience of fact checks against rhetorical challenge Christine Stedtnitz, John Bartle, Rob Johns This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7755367/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Fact-checks correcting political misperceptions promise to set the record straight—but anyone who has glanced at the comments section underneath a fact-check knows they rarely have the last word. Corrections are quickly met with suspicion: accusations of bias, appeals to personal experience, or claims that instincts matter more than statistics. So, how resilient are fact-checks against this rhetorical challenge? We tested this question in a preregistered survey experiment with a representative sample of British adults. Participants first rated common false claims about immigration. They then saw an expert fact-check of whichever claim they believed most. Next, treated respondents read a second message urging them to take the statistics “with a big pinch of salt.” In a 2×3 design, we varied both the source (professor vs. blogger) and the content of the challenge (questioning the expert’s neutrality, appealing to personal experience, or encouraging respondents to “trust their instincts”). The fact-checks worked: they significantly reduced belief in false claims, even among skeptics. Crucially, most of this corrective effect endured: the undermining comments only cancelled out about a quarter of the effect of the fact-check on belief in false claims. Our findings support prior research on the corrective power of fact-checks and add evidence of their resilience. Fact-checks may not flip beliefs overnight, but they loosen conviction in false claims—even when they do not have the last word. fact-checking misperceptions resistance to correction post-truth Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7755367","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":534194642,"identity":"910b92b4-3fda-4cdd-b500-99025724504b","order_by":0,"name":"Christine Stedtnitz","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA40lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACNjBifABk8vARoZ6xgYHNgIGNjYHZAKSFjWgtQGvYJKA24gf8DezPH3wo+5PHJ9/+rPJrjp0M0LaHj27g0SJxgMewccY5g2Kgw9Juy25LBjqMzdg4B48WAwYexmbeNoPENjaGY7cltzEDtfCwSePXwv6w+S9YC2NbseS2emK0MBg2M4K1MLMxftx2mLAWicM8hjN7zhkDtaQxSzNuO84D1IrfL/zt7Q8+/CiTS5zffPzhx5/bqu352ZsfPsanhYEZmc2DLkIQMP4gRfUoGAWjYBSMGAAAD0w97u9YAXwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"King's College London","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christine","middleName":"","lastName":"Stedtnitz","suffix":""},{"id":534194643,"identity":"5c05f82f-7cbd-4ead-90c5-730fc2bf00bb","order_by":1,"name":"John Bartle","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Essex","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"John","middleName":"","lastName":"Bartle","suffix":""},{"id":534194644,"identity":"b1ad5056-b34e-4aab-90d7-fce31092f93f","order_by":2,"name":"Rob Johns","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Southampton","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rob","middleName":"","lastName":"Johns","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-10-01 00:23:04","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7755367/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7755367/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105564714,"identity":"be7324d0-d2f1-4618-8787-cdb282be50aa","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:50:36","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2590256,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"posttruthpublicedit6Oct2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7755367/v1_covered_6774f34f-69fa-40db-b872-dd6bcee239a2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Testing the resilience of fact checks against rhetorical challenge","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"fact-checking, misperceptions, resistance to correction, post-truth","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7755367/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7755367/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eFact-checks correcting political misperceptions promise to set the record straight—but anyone who has glanced at the comments section underneath a fact-check knows they rarely have the last word. 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