Spreading online rumors via digital media during natural disasters (Case study)

Abstract

This research aims to know how the digital media contributed to spreading rumors during natural disasters, and what are the forms of these rumors, the motives for publishing them, and their impact on public opinion, and how official institutions dealt with them, and the researchers relied on the field survey approach on a sample of (392) research from activists through these electronic means, and the results indicated the most prominent rumors from the point of view of the researchers are a rumor The victims, followed by the second rank, the spread of infectious and non -infectious diseases, and then the distribution of aid came in the third rank, and the results indicate that Facebook comes at the forefront of the most common digital media for rumors, and in the second place comes Instagram, and then X, and Tilagram, and the results revealed that the impact of spreading rumors on community members during times of crisis was very significant.

Digital media platforms should be used to disseminate official information and correct rumors, ensuring the accuracy of the published information. Effective monitoring tools should be provided to detect the spread of rumors and misinformation across social media and other platforms. Specialized media teams should be established to provide a rapid response capable of countering rumors and misinformation and disseminating facts as quickly as possible. Media literacy programs should be developed to help the public critically evaluate the information they encounter and distinguish between real news and false rumors.