Bad-faith questioning is when someone asks a question with no intention of getting an answer. Their goal isn’t curiosity… it’s disruption. Instead of trying to understand the information in front of them, they demand proof, repeat the same question, and pressure the person posting to defend themselves. The behavior is really about control. People who use this tactic aren’t confused. They’re uncomfortable. They don’t want the information to be true, so they create conflict around the messenger instead of the message. One way they do this is by pretending to be “reasonable” or “fact-driven” while ignoring the facts altogether. A classic sign of bad-faith questioning is when a brand-new account appears under only one post and immediately challenges the writer’s credibility. The account doesn’t engage anywhere else, doesn’t participate in discussions, and often vanishes afterward. The purpose is to plant doubt, not to learn. This kind of questioning shifts the focus away from the topic and toward a never-ending loop of “prove this” and “prove that,” even when the information is already available publicly. It becomes a psychological maneuver designed to exhaust, distract, or silence the person who posted. Understanding this behavior helps people avoid getting pulled into debates that were never meant to be honest in the first place. Recognizing the pattern is the first step in protecting your time, your energy, and your voice online. #ThePsychologyOf #BadFaithQuestioning #OnlinePatterns #DigitalBehavior #LataraSpeaksTruth