Research like this does make me wonder about what percentage of anti skilled finfluencers are actually the malicious case rather than misguided. That is to say, the case where they peddle some position they know will do poorly and secure a short / contrary position themselves. That way they are effectively doubling how they can monetize their audience, once as ad-revenue, and a second by profiting from audience losses. It's probably impossible to control for something like that, but it's interesting to think about.