AUTHOR=Zhao Jingyi , Fu Cun , Kang Xin 

TITLE=Content characteristics predict the putative authenticity of COVID-19 rumors

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.920103

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.920103

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<p>Rumors regarding COVID-19 have been prevalent on the Internet and affect the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using 1,296 COVID-19 rumors collected from an online platform (<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://piyao.org.cn" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">piyao.org.cn</ext-link>) in China, we found measurable differences in the content characteristics between true and false rumors. We revealed that the length of a rumor's headline is negatively related to the probability of a rumor being true [odds ratio (<italic>OR</italic>) = 0.37, <italic>95% CI</italic> (0.30, 0.44)]. In contrast, the length of a rumor's statement is positively related to this probability [<italic>OR</italic> = 1.11, <italic>95% CI</italic> (1.09, 1.13)]. In addition, we found that a rumor is more likely to be true if it contains concrete places [<italic>OR</italic> = 20.83, <italic>95% CI</italic> (9.60, 48.98)] and it specifies the date or time of events [<italic>OR</italic> = 22.31, <italic>95% CI</italic> (9.63, 57.92)]. The rumor is also likely to be true when it does not evoke positive or negative emotions [<italic>OR</italic> = 0.15, <italic>95% CI</italic> (0.08, 0.29)] and does not include a call for action [<italic>OR</italic> = 0.06, <italic>95% CI</italic> (0.02, 0.12)]. By contrast, the presence of source cues [<italic>OR</italic> = 0.64, <italic>95% CI</italic> (0.31, 1.28)] and visuals [<italic>OR</italic> = 1.41, <italic>95% CI</italic> (0.53, 3.73)] is related to this probability with limited significance. Our findings provide some clues for identifying COVID-19 rumors using their content characteristics.</p>