Fallacy
Appeal to Authority
Treat a claim as true mainly because someone with status said it, not because of the evidence.
Treat a claim as true mainly because someone with status said it, not because of the evidence.
Example
"This supplement must work, a celebrity endorsed it on their podcast."
Experts are worth listening to, especially inside their actual field of expertise. The fallacy isn’t citing an authority, it’s letting their status substitute for evidence entirely, especially outside their expertise.
A celebrity’s fame doesn’t make them a pharmacologist. A CEO’s business success doesn’t make their opinion on epidemiology reliable.
Ask two questions: is this person actually an expert in this specific topic, and even so, what’s the actual evidence behind the claim?