The craziest is how obvious we can be about it. It just happened and yet the whole conversation right now is not about how to verify it, but just to trust that new one as fact too.

It's nice that we acknowledge that we were wrong... but we are doing the same exact mistake right now.

Imagine the effect if multiple sources were to repeat the same false claim.

Imagine it if the available sources were few, and they were all repeating the same false claim.

But it didn't get turned into a fact. There was a period of discussion, and the facts eventually came out, which the original tweeter even acknowledged.

You might even say, the system worked. ;-)

It's very likely that the original story spread to more people than the retraction. So sadly, yes, for a significant number of people the falsehood is now a "fact". One they might drop as a curiosity in conversation long after the retraction has faded from view, further spreading the "fact".

Yes, but many who saw the original story will probably forget about it in time. Moreover, the retraction did spread in a way that it wouldn't have if this controversy never got public discussion. People who saw the retraction will now be available to refute the assertion if it comes up again.

Falsehoods will spread, that's inevitable. But that's not the real misinformation problem. Falsehoods also get pushback, often strong pushback. Falsehoods can get corrected, eventually.

As a society, we have a real problem when people deliberately push falsehoods that they know to be false. This is not such a case, however.