April witnessed drop in misinformation — monitor

AMMAN — A total of 15 cases of misinformation were propagated in the Kingdom during April, showing a drop of 50 per cent, compared to those fabricated in March, according to the Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor, Akeed.

In a report launched on Saturday, Akeed said that a quantitative and qualitative approach was exerted to look at misinforamtion spread through social media platforms, news websites and smartphones apps.

For the monitor, a case of misinformation, which it refers to as a “rumour”, constitutes a misleading story relevant to Jordanian public matter or interest that reached more than 5,000 people, via digital media, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

What distinguished April misinformation is that the authorities have arrested an individual for fuelling misinformation via Facebook.  

Misinformation concerning the economic conditions constituted 60 per cent, followed by public affairs-related misinformation by 20 per cent, security matters by 13 per cent and political conditions by 7 per cent, while no such reports targeted the health and social sectors, according to the monitor.  

Regarding the sources of the fake items, 13 came from local sources, while the remaining two items were created by outside sources.

The results also showed that media outlets have played a “minor role” in the phenomenon, spreading only four cases of misinformation in April, at 27 per cent, while 11 cases of misinformation (73 per cent) began on social media platforms, Petra added.