This was a huge story that generated weeks of breathless coverage and millions in donations for Lincoln Project types, but the only people who will see or comment on this correction are the people who never believed it to begin with.
https://twitter.com/NoahShachtman/status/1382713472056709123
As a friend points out, it’s a nice touch that they are walking back the bounty story, which remember was used to prevent Trump from withdrawing from Afghanistan, the day after Biden announces his own withdrawal plan.
It’s not that they are counting on you not noticing, they are counting on it not mattering. The people behind it will pay zero costs, and in fact have already been rewarded
There is a rich academic literature on why conspiracy theories are unlikely to be true that claims because we live in a free and open society any conspiracy will ultimately be exposed and therefore would-be conspiracists are unlikely follow through with their plans 
But even granting the premise that our society is "free and open,” the Russian bounty conspiracy—and it was very obviously a conspiracy—is a perfect example of why this view is false...
Conspiracies don’t need to be kept secret forever, they just need to be kept secret long enough for the aims of the conspiracists to be achieved.
Once achieved, if they produce the right results, the conspiracy is memory-holed and we all carry on as before.
Once achieved, if they produce the right results, the conspiracy is memory-holed and we all carry on as before.
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