An Empirical Study On The Mechanisms Underlying The Belief And Dissemination Of COVID-19 Related Rumors

At the beginning of 2020,COVID-19 broke out in China.During this period,all kinds of rumors were Disturbing people’s cognition.The spread of "information epidemic"not only causes panic,but also hinders the prevention and control of the epidemic,even brings great risks to social stability and public health.This social phenomenon makes it necessary to pay attention to the mechanism of rumor belief,dissemination and the strategy of rumor governance.Therefore,based on in-depth interview and grounded theory,this study will explore the reasons for Internet users’ rumor belief under Chinese social media context during COVID-19 period,which can help decision makers of public health institutions and governments to improve the strategies of information dissemination for public health emergencies,and effectively cope with the social and health crisis brought by "information epidemic".In this study,social media users’ rumor belief and dissemination are regarded as a response to the risk of maj or infectious diseases.With the help of Social Amplification of Risk Framework,through integrating the theories of rumors and conspiracy theory dissemination,the study will explore the mechanisms underlying the belief and dissemination of COVID-19 related rumors based on the following four aspects:information attribute,channel attribute,social stations,and individual stations.It is found that the information source,content and narrative style in the information attribute,interpersonal discussion in channel attribute,the processing way of information by organizations in social stations,the cognitive imbalance,moral panic,loss of control in the individual stations,and the situation of receiving rumors can affect the audience’s belief and dissemination of rumors.However,individuals are not completely passive to accept the influence of rumors.On the contrary,the scientific literacy,media literacy and values of the audience can effectively weaken the influence of rumors.The theoretical contribution of this study is to regard the public trust and spread of epidemic rumors as an important mechanism of social amplification of health risks.By integrating Social Amplification of Risk Framework with theories of rumors and conspiracy theory dissemination,this study explores the social amplification mechanism of major public health risks mediated by social media and driven by rumors and conspiracy theory.From the perspective of practice,this study provides practical suggestions for rumor governance in major public health events from the perspective of news media,social media,government agencies,and nongovernmental organizations.