Spread of Rumors at the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake

Examining the Ways to Curb the Spread of Rumors in the Social Media Age

Abstract

This paper analyses rumors spread at the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake based on Twitter posts to examine how to curb the spread of rumors in the age of social media. The results of the analysis and examination include the follows. - The basic of preventing rumors from going viral is said to be providing accurate reports to reduce the ambiguity of information. NHK provided various types of content with disaster-related information through its websites and smartphone apps and used Twitter and a two-dimensional barcode to guide the users to them. Online content that allows users to constantly search for text and graphic information can supplement　radio broadcasts and eliminate the ambiguity of the information. -There were two types of rumors on Twitter: (1) tweets that initially used a conjectural expression “rashii” (“I heard” or “it seems like”) that was later replaced with more assertive tones such as “suru” (“it is” or “it tuned out”) and (2) tweets that did not change the tone. Some tweets on recurrence of disaster explosively spread like wildfire. As these tweets multiplied, comments such as “I learnt it through LINE” gradually appeared. - Countering information dispelling rumors turned out to be effective to stop rumors from spreading. The speed of the spread of counter-rumor tweets varied depending on the original rumor, and if a rumor accompanied a sense of fear, it was faster for the counter-rumor messages to disseminate. - Rumors explosively spread on social media. The media organizations must promptly take measures to combat them, but rumors anticipating future possibilities are hard to deal with, and measures to dispel them are likely to become complicated. Using the term “false rumor” is said to have an immediate effect to prevent rumors from spreading, but it may completely dismiss unconfirmed rumors or label even a good faith discourse as a lie.