Different instruments can be used to capture different segments of the population. You’re right there are gullible people who are more likely to believe things with limited or no evidence. But it isn’t necessarily about the most impressionable people, nor is it about installing sincerely held beliefs.

Instead, what may be a cause for concern is simply the installation of doubt in an otherwise reasonable person because of the perceived validity of contrived evidence. Not so much that it becomes a sincerely held belief, but but just enough that it paralyzes action and encourages indifference due to ambiguity.