Given the on-site highly induced content provided by short videos and live stream platforms, various kinds of rumors easily get fermented and go viral on social media platforms, which bring trouble to viewers in discerning authentic from falsified information. In the context of new media, it is an issue worthy of reflection: how to immediately identify rumors and block the spread of rumors and create a harmonious and sound cyber environment.

Rumor spreading

In the era of new media, information increased in an explosive way. Some events that involve a wide range of sectors with great influence and that would easily cause general anxiety among social groups often attract much attention from the public. They thus become what stir rumors. Take rumors related to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. The pandemic became a hotspot issue both as a social emergency and an incident that concerns people’s health and personal safety. At the beginning of the spread of the virus, people had low awareness of the new virus, and transparency and authoritative information in this area was insufficient around society.

By taking advantage of people’s panic to create and spread rumors and attract attention, falsified information can fall into the following categories: deliberately exaggerating or fabricating a cluster infection; fabricating official information that the city would spray disinfectant by aircraft or take measures of traffic control; deliberately exaggerating about the possibility of social material supply shortage or the closing of supermarkets; hype about a particular kind of medicine or food which has the ability to prevent viral infection. All this information defrauds social members by taking advantage of their panic emotions, which easily reduce the panicked individuals’ reason in identifying rumors, who in turn become new rumor spreaders.

According to many previous studies, most of the rumor believers are the elderly and adolescents, as well as poorly educated and middle-aged and elderly women. Such classification of rumor-susceptible groups makes some sense, but it also has certain limitations. Since whether to believe in the rumors is based on the social identity involved in the content of rumors, the susceptible groups cannot be simply categorized by age or region. Those susceptible groups on one particular topic may not be susceptible to another topic.

Dialectical views

The COVID-19 rumors were handled generally in a rapid and timely way, with a large quantity, wide range, and intensity, but there are also some noteworthy points for reflection.

In addition, there were also some problems in terms of governance of rumors in the early stage of pandemic control, such as the lack of certainty of authoritative information, the suspected rumors that turned out to resemble the truth, and the lack of explicit follow-up explanation.

During the pandemic, some rumors were extremely harmful and became an obstacle in the fight against the virus. But it was admitted that some rumors could alleviate social anxiety, and even had a certain warning effect, which poses even greater challenges for tackling and governing rumors.

Given diverse information sources in new media platforms, and the low threshold of information production, there is a huge amount of uncertain information. It is thus impossible and unnecessary that all of them be managed. It is important that we realize some rumors’ role as relief valves, including their moderating effect for social anxiety, and govern different types of rumors by different approaches. The control of those rumors with few destructive effects can be appropriately loosened. At the same time, it is advisable to rationally identify useful information which might have a warning effect. More tolerance should be given to those rumors that are not that hazardous and dialectical views are needed.

Spreading rumors can cause panic, but what really causes greater panic is the absence of confirmed information with certainty, and such absence in turn may encourage the spread of rumors. Therefore, timely release of definitive information is the most effective way to put an end to rumors.

Lei Xia is an associate research fellow from the Institute of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.