The more nonsensical and obviously absurd a belief is, the more people who hold it (or pretend to) will resist recanting. The potential for humiliation rises in direct proportion to the ridiculousness of what they've publicly swallowed. They see no choice but to double down.
Interesting findings that align with much other research. It's noteworthy that scepticism about the impact of online misinformation on politics was treated as such an outrageous contrarian view by many people over the past few years.
The misinformation panic (that has now largely passed and been memory-holed) was this strange thing where the people most passionate about the importance of "trust the science!" were very often the least constrained by what the science actually shows.