The “backfire effect” is mostly a myth, a broad look at the research suggests

The U.K.’s independent fact-checking organization Full Fact looked at research into the so-called “backfire effect,” the idea ( popular in the media ) that “when a claim aligns with someone’s ideological beliefs, telling them that it’s wrong will actually make them believe it even more strongly.” Ahead of the Monday event where it is expected to announce a streaming TV product and an Apple News premium tier, Apple this week announced that it’s providing funding to three media literacy organizations: The News Literacy Project and Common Sense in the U.S., and Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori in Italy. But not so much this time, as noted by BuzzFeed’s Craig Silverman and Jane Lytvynenko, perhaps because the killer’s own media strategy took up all the crime’s oxygen:

Friday’s attack at two mosques in New Zealand was committed by a shooter who deployed a social media strategy to go with his actions.

Source: www.niemanlab.org