Fighting the Fake News Pandemic
Unraveling the Dynamics Behind Rumours
COVID-19 has completely engulfed the world, and the governments at local, state and national levels are deploying a number of relief and response measures against the spread of infections. While a fragile health infrastructure, crumbling supply chains and lack of social safety nets have risen as crucial challenges, experts and administrators worldwide are facing an equally potent problem in the form of rumours. Consider this domestic case — In the initial phase of COVID-19, from January to mid-march 2020, Indian poultry sector lost nearly 800 crores (Sivapriyan 2020) as the price of a single egg dropped below two rupees, reportedly forcing the owners to dig holes and bury their live chickens, in an act of desperation to cut costs. Such humongous life and property losses were due to a rumour — A “simple” WhatsApp fake news, wrongly mentioning “UNICEF” & “health ministry” as having said that COVID-19 can spread through chickens and eggs. This is just one among the many rumours, in the midst of a pandemic, which has posed serious issues in our societies. Therefore, it is pertinent to ask the question: Why & how do rumours spread during a crisis and what are the possible measures to stop them
The anatomy and psychology of rumours:
Rumour, used interchangeably with fake news, is unverified news which spreads rapidly. Rumours thrive especially in periods of unrest and emergency (like the present situation) under certain psychological and social factors. Basic human anxiety and the resulting uncertainties are crucial psychological factors and prerequisites for rumours, as put forth by Dr. Jamuna Prasad, who is posthumously acclaimed for his work on rumours during the 1935 Bihar earthquake (Bordia and Difonzo 2002). It is worth noting that basic human anxieties historically have always been around disease and death (Goleman 1991). This is one of the main reasons why rumours surrounding COVID-19 are very successful in inhabiting hosts (just like the coronavirus), as there is palpable anxiety and fear of being afflicted by the disease, which is aggravated by the fact that one can get the virus and still be asymptomatic!
Additionally, Dr. Prasad states that rumours are used to alleviate feelings of anxiety (Bordia 2002). While we are anxious due to this onerous situation, a rumour that the neighborhood vendor is selling vegetables after spitting on them (Zubair, 2020), gives a definite shape to our amorphous anxieties by placing the blame on a single particular event. This process alleviates some anxiety as it gives a false hope of “certainty”.As a result, in “finding” certain tangible events for the spread of the virus, we feel less anxious about the invisible threat of infection.
Rumours also spread when there is no/low access to credible, verified information to understand the prevalent situation (Bhargava 2020). This information vacuum is easily filled by rumours as it provides (unverified) facts and conspiracy theories which are designed to fit the complex situation in hand. This is why the American psychologist Robert H Knapp describes rumours to be an attempt to search for meaning in a confused and perplexed situation that one can’t understand (Knapp 33). This case is widely prevalent now as the world is still unsure of a number of factors including the source of the virus, extent of transmission of virus in cities and neighborhoods and uncertainties surrounding “return to normalcy”.
Social factors:
In addition, Dr. Prasad’s study further asserts that common beliefs, social cultures, norms and existing divisions in the society also heavily influence rumours (Bordia and Difonzo 2002). The prevalent polarizations in the society creates a situation of “us vs them” syndrome where particular sections of society are seen as “outsiders” (Bhargava 2020) who are often needlessly blamed and scapegoated. Rumours that falsely attribute the highly irresponsible Tablighi Jamaat incident as a deliberate attack on India by the minority through fake news and propaganda (Chaudhuri 2020) are clear examples of exploitation of the prevalent polarizations in our society.The recent verdict by the Bombay High Court and its strong statements against islamophobic propaganda stand as testaments (Thapar, 2020).
The “us vs them” syndrome also perpetuates confirmation bias and in-group favoritism (Bhargava, 2020) , adding fuel to the existing wildfire of rumors. Users often perceive the information they receive from their close ones (family, friends and colleagues who share political beliefs) to be true and instantly forward it to others. This restricts anyone from questioning the information they receive, as opposing a member of the same group is always looked down upon and avoided altogether. Cultural norms in India such as respect to men and elders completely stonewall possibilities of questioning and fact-checking (Banaji and Bhat 2019).
Stopping the super-spread of rumours:
The spread of rumours gains force when given a communal angle and it can quickly inundate chats and news feeds in social media and gain primetime in news channels, like it played out in the past few weeks. Due to its ubiquity, WhatsApp has notoriously become the main channel through which facts mutate and rumours propagate. India is witnessing a rising number of deaths, mostly due to lynching, because of the panic created by WhatsApp rumours. Therefore, it becomes imperative to check the flood of fake news in WhatsApp.
Studies point out that just adding a “doubt” or a “question mark (?)” button next to WhatsApp messages, similar to “like” in Facebook can help point out the dubious nature of that particular message, safeguarding privacy at the same time (IANS, 2020). While such effective yet effortless measures are necessary, a recent study conducted by researchers from London School of Economics surprisingly points out that rumours are spread by users motivated by ideological leanings rather than by users who are ignorant or digitally illiterate (Banaji and Bhat 2019). This points to a deeper malice and a core issue at the root of our society. The study also concludes that despite relevant measures and media literacy campaigns by WhatsApp, “ideologically motivated rumours and the resulting violence will in all likelihood circumvent these measures, until the underlying political and social causes and encouragements of hate-speech, discrimination, vigilantism and destabilisation of democracy in India are addressed far more widely” (Banaji and Bhat 2019). Thus, a cohesive society is a must to stop rumours which continue to pose threats to lives and livelihoods.
Finally, in a globalized interconnected world, we need to remember what COVID-19 has taught us: even a small action by an individual can have major repercussions at the global level. Despite constraints, the onus is on us as news consumers to question debatable and dubious information and stop its spread. An old Tamil proverb which translates to “Ears and eyes shall deceive us; only in-depth analysis will reveal Truth” holds perfect sense in our internet era.
Read Is Busy Valuable? by Saania Jamal
Works Cited:
- Bordia, Prashant, and Nicholas Difonzo. “When Social Psychology Became Less Social: Prasad and the History of Rumour Research.” Asian Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 5, no. 1, 2002, pp. 49–61., doi:10.1111/1467–839x.00093.
- Knapp, Robert H. “A Psychology of Rumour.” The Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 1, 1944, pp. 22–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2745686.
- Rosnow, Ralph L., and Donald A. Hantula. Advances in Social and Organizational Psychology: a Tribute to Ralph Rosnow. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006.
- Goleman, Daniel. “Anatomy of a Rumour: It Flies on Fear.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 June 1991, www.nytimes.com/1991/06/04/science/anatomy-of-a-rumour-it-flies-on-fear.html.
- Bhargava, Rajeev. “Halting the March of Rumours.” The Hindu, The Hindu, 15 Apr. 2020, www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/halting-the-march-of-rumours/article31342031.ece.
- Banaji, Shakuntala, and Ram Bhat. “WhatsApp Vigilantes: An Exploration of Citizen Reception and Circulation of WhatsApp Information Linked to Mob Violence in India.” (2019).
- IANS. “WhatsApp Feature: A Simple ‘Doubt’ Button May Help Curb Fake News.” Livemint, 30 Jan. 2020, www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/whatsapp-feature-a-simple-doubt-button-may-help-curb-fake-news-11580362422904.html.
- Chaudhuri, Pooja. “India TV Uses 2017 Video to Falsely Claim Islamic Preacher Provoked Jamaatis to ‘Spit’.” Alt News, 18 Apr. 2020, www.altnews.in/india-tv-uses-2017-video-to-falsely-claim-islamic-preacher-provoked-jamaatis-to-spit/.
- Sivapriyan, ETB. “Poultry Industry in Tamil Nadu Worst-Hit Due to Coronavirus and Avian Flu.” Deccan Herald, DH News Service, 18 Mar. 2020, www.deccanherald.com/national/south/poultry-industry-in-tamil-nadu-worst-hit-due-to-coronavirus-and-avian-flu-814975.html.
- Zubair, Jignesh PatelMohammed, et al. “Video of Muslim Vendor’s Unhygienic Handling of Fruits Falsely Linked with Spreading Coronavirus.” Alt News, 8 Apr. 2020, www.altnews.in/viral-video-of-muslim-vendor-licking-fruits-is-from-mps-raisen-falsely-linked-with-spreading-coronavirus/.
- Thapar, Arushi, Article-14.com. “‘Unjust and Unfair’: What Three High Courts Said about the Arrests of Tablighi Jamaat Members.” Scroll.in, Scroll.in, 24 Aug. 2020, scroll.in/article/971195/unjust-and-unfair-what-three-high-courts-said-about-the-arrests-of-tablighi-jamaat-members.
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