Why do false rumors spread online during emergencies?

Published October 19, 2018 This content is archived.

An article in The New York Times about how false rumors circulate during hurricanes and other natural disasters includes comments from Jun Zhuang, associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. The Times quoted a summary of what Zhuang wrote regarding his research: “The general public is not very good at differentiating truth from rumor related to disasters. The public tends to spread rumors and is unlikely to correct false information, even after it has been debunked.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/rumors-hurricane-michael-florida.html