April saw ‘significant’ drop in spread of rumours — monitor

AMMAN — The spread of rumours decreased “significantly” in April compared to March, thanks to the government’s warnings against propagating misinformation through Defence Order No. 8, according to a media monitor on Thursday.

During April, 49 rumours were detected in the Kingdom, compared with 67 rumours spread in March, the Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor, Akeed, said.

However, the media monitor said, these figures are “still high” when compared with the 31 and 30 rumours reported in February and January, respectively.

Social media platforms are still the top propagation sources for rumours, as 38 fake news items at a rate of 77.5 per cent came from online platforms, while 11 fabricated items, at 22.5 per cent, originated in local media outlets, Akeed said.

Akeed, an online portal dedicated to monitoring the credibility of media, announced that 100 per cent of the misleading information detected in April, came from local sources, be it news websites or social media platforms, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.