Is being bold with scholars and shaykhs, backbiting them, and taking pleasure in it considered one of the steps of Satan?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: Is being bold with scholars and shaykhs, backbiting them, and taking pleasure in it considered one of the steps of Satan? And is backbiting them greater than backbiting others?

Answer:
My brothers, there is a distinction here. Pointing out the mistakes made by some students of knowledge or by scholars does not constitute denouncing them or disparaging them; rather, it is advice, in the sense of advising them and others.
We do not let an error spread among the people, with it being said, "This is so-and-so's view." It is our right to advise him and not let him persist in his error against the people. We alert him; perhaps he is unaware of this, or perhaps he is mistaken in this. This is not considered backbiting.
Refuting an error and clarifying it is not considered backbiting. As for taking pleasure in people, disparaging them to diminish them, and making them detestable to people, that is backbiting. So there is a difference between clarifying an error and backbiting. Yes.