Argument mimicry is a rhetorical tactic used to disqualify various kinds of arguments or evidence on the basis of superficial analogies with other, blatantly flawed ones.
Whenever a critical argument against some mainstream claim is becoming too popular, this is countered by ironically mentioning (or making up on the spot) a blatantly fallacious argument that follows the same fundamental train of thought or uses the same type of evidence, but includes fatal flaws that the former doesn't (either belongs to vastly inferior standards of rigor, is used in the wrong context, or ignores specific key evidences), then by treating the two as if they were perfectly equivalent.
Thanks to this tactic, entire classes of arguments or evidence can be disqualified from debate.
A variant of the same tactic consists in having fake dissenters (see "Controlled opposition") make similar kind of blatantly flawed reasoning against the mainstream; giving the opportunity to come in an debunk the reasoning and, with it, also any similar argument that might be used to criticize the mainstream.
Here are some examples illustrating how the tactic works:
Critical argument: A photo/video is recognized as a fake on the basis of really clear evidences of manipulation.
Argument mimicry: Call a photo/video fake on the basis of some extremely weak evidence of manipulation.
Implied message: Analyzing photos/videos in order to find evidences of manipulation is stupid.
Critical argument: An event or phenomenon presents a lot of striking coincidences that clearly point in the direction of a conspiration and are hardly explainable in any other way.
Argument mimicry: Calling an event/phenomenon a conspiracy on the basis of a few very forced and indirect coincidences that are easily explainable in lots of different ways.
Implied message: All coincidences are normal and trying to explain them is inherently irrational.
Critical argument: Asking the proofs for the non-existence of a phenomenon with countless evidences of its reality.
Argument mimicry: Asking for proofs about the non-existence of some unheard fantastic thing that's blatantly made-up on the spot.
Implied message: Everything can be denied without proofs.