When Fact-Checks Backfire

But in the following years, re-creating this finding proved to be difficult, and researchers tried to dissect when fact-checks work and when they backfire. In recent years, I’ve observed a lot of cynicism on the effectiveness of fact-checks in the face of misinformation and lies. Democracy requires an independent press to distinguish truths from falsehoods. But even in the face of a multitude of fact-checks, wrong ideas about vaccine effectiveness or lies about Haitians in Ohio eating cats and dogs spread, raising questions about whether the media are up to the job.