Internet is public's major source of rumors: survey
BEIJING. September 8. KAZINFORM The majority of participants in an online survey conducted by the China Youth Daily newspaper believe that the Internet is China's most significant source of baseless rumors; Kazinform refers to China Daily.
Nearly 86 percent of the 1,714 netizens polled regard the Internet as the most common channel through which unchecked rumors are spread, followed by word-of-mouth and mobile phone text messages, the newspaper said on Thursday.
The popularity of microblogs and other online communication mediums has resulted in the proliferation of falsehoods, due to the fact that netizens are allowed to speak anonymously, according to Hu Yong, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University.
This anonymity makes it difficult to trace the sources of rumors and verify their authenticity, Hu said.
Sina Weibo, the country's most popular microblogging service, asked its millions of users to help stop the spread of unchecked rumors in August. The company vowed that microbloggers will have their accounts suspended for one month if they are found to be posting messages containing false information; Kazinform cites China Daily.
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