Calamities Breed Rumour in Social Media Age: Federal Study

A wildly inaccurate rumour flashed through social media in the panicked aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings because police did not provide information on the suspects for days, a Canadian study concludes.

Medical workers aid injured people following an explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Identifying and refuting falsehoods early with clear and strong information is the best way to ensure truth wins out when terrorism or war strikes, a Canadian study finds. AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File

OTTAWA—A wildly inaccurate rumour flashed through social media in the panicked aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings because police did not provide information on the suspects for days, a new study concludes.

Identifying and refuting falsehoods early with clear and strong information is the best way to ensure truth wins out when terrorism or war strikes, says the research report, prepared for the Canadian government.

If that doesn’t work? Fight a rumour with a sensational counter-rumour.

The study on the generation and debunking of untruths, commissioned by Defence Research and Development Canada, was recently completed by Humansystems Inc. of Guelph, Ont. The findings could influence the Canadian military’s thinking on information-related tactics.

When a gunman killed a soldier at the National War Memorial on Oct. 22, 2014, false reports began circulating in cyberspace about armed accomplices and more shots ringing out.

A year earlier, at least four major rumours quickly turned up on social media such as Twitter when two brothers detonated pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 250.

“Rumours may have propagated to the extent they did because they were believable and helped to make sense of the situation,” the study says.

In the information vacuum, rumours were generated to make sense of the situation.

— Defence Research and Development Canada study