The Comment Section Is the Product
The post dies. The pile-on lives. The debunking is just a second pile-on with a bigger budget.
The math: one ragebait post earns a single wave of "how dare you" comments. But when the debunking arrives, it earns a second, bigger wave - people piling on the debunkers, not the original poster. The engagement curve has two peaks, and both are cashable.
Which comment wins: the one that performs outrage the loudest, not the one that is correct. "This is the most out-of-touch thing I have ever read" beats "actually, here is the data" - because the first one is a costume, and the second one is a correction. The algorithm does not care which one is true. It only cares which one keeps the scroll moving.
The top-comment read: in the game, five fake comments appear after each post. Your job is to predict which one the platform will boost to the top. The winning comment is almost always the one that makes the most moral claim with the least substance.