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Refutation and warning are considered naṣīḥah (advice) and raḥmah (mercy) to the one being refuted and to the ummah in general.
There can be those from the people of the Sunnah who have knowledge and excellence, and they may fall into errors, or fall into misguidance even, and other scholars who are deeply-rooted and firm in the Sunnah may correct and advise them and where and when it becomes necessary, to openly refute and warn against them.
The Mumayyiʿah—those who water down the methodology, are somewhat squeamish and easily unsettled—have aversion in these affairs, especially when someone formerly known for Sunnah opposes or deserts the people of the Sunnah, chooses error and misguidance and is refuted with evidence.
Ibn al-Jawzī said about Imām Aḥmad (رحمه الله):[1]
And the Imām, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, due to his severity in adherence to the Sunnah and his forbiddence of innovation used to speak about a group of good people (of knowledge) when opposition to something of the Sunnah emerged from them. And this speech of his (against them) is carried upon sincere advice in religion (النصيحة للدين).
That is to say that there can appear from deeply-rooted scholars, firm in their adherence to and veneration of the Sunnah, speech against others from Ahl al-Sunnah who have virtue and excellence, when there appears from them, something of opposition to the Sunnah.
This is not to be considered as an attack or vilification or backbiting and the likes, but it enters under the general category of sincere advice to the ummah in affairs of religion.
Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Farrāʾ said:[2]
I narrated to Yūsuf bin Asbāṭ, from Wakīʿ, some of the affairs of the tribulations, and he (Yūsuf) said, “That one (meaning al-Ḥasan bin Hayy) resembles his own teacher”. So I said to Yūsuf, “Don’t you fear that this might be backbiting?”. He said, “Why, O fool! I am better to them than their own fathers and mothers. I forbid the people from acting upon what they have innovated lest the burdens (of those misguided by them) follow them, and whoever praises them are more harmful upon them.
Al-Ḥasan bin Ṣaliḥ bin Ḥayy (d. 169H) was a respected person of knowledge, excelling over many others from the Salaf in the 2nd century hijrah whose names are famous. However, for merely holding the opinion of the permissibility of rebelling against the ruler (without him doing that himself, or calling to it), the Salaf declared him an innovator, warned against him severely, and said it would have been better for him not to have been born.
See article: Why the Salaf Made Tabdīʿ of al-Ḥasan bin Ṣāliḥ bin Ḥayy, Reviled Him and Abandoned Him