Interesting thread. There is a quote from Sefer charedim quoted in perek lamed beis Tanya, that would clear up Apr of this.
The posuk says hocheiach tochiach es amisecha. Amisecha means your fellow, hence the mitzvah only applies to giving rebuke to someone on your level of yiras shomayim and Torah and mitzvos.
On this note, I heard a wonderful story lately, I’ll post it in the following post iyh