The Palestinian Authority’s daily briefings on the outbreak of the coronavirus contributed to a decrease in rumors and fake news among Palestinians, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom (MADA) said in a report published on Sunday.
A PA security crackdown on rumor mongers also helped curb the spread of fake news, MADA said.
The report, titled “The epidemic of rumors and fake news about coronavirus on social media,” called for new legislation to facilitate the battle against rumors and fake news after the state of emergency, announced by the PA in March, expires.
Earlier this month, PA President Mahmoud Abbas extended the state of emergency, which was first announced in early March, to June 5.
The report highlights the spread of rumors and fake news on social media, saying it caused confusion and panic among Palestinians, particularly in the absence of news from official and reliable sources at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.
It said that some Facebook pages published fake news about the number of Palestinians infected with the virus, as well as the names of patients diagnosed with the disease.
MADA Director General Mousa Rimawi said that due to the seriousness of the rumors on Palestinian society, his center initiated a campaign on social media on March 5 to combat the rumors under the slogan, “Rumors about coronavirus are not freedom of expression.”
The campaign, he said, was launched on the same day that the PA Ministry of Health announced that seven Palestinians from Bethlehem had tested positive for the virus.
“Our campaign was launched after rumors and fake news appeared on social media platforms and in the media concerning the infected cases in Palestine,” Rimawi explained.
Noting that the rumors and fake news had led to confusion and panic among Palestinians, Rimawi said that the MADA campaign included educational publications and videos for journalists and social media activists about the need for accuracy in their reporting and posts.
In addition, the campaign sought to educate the Palestinian public about the importance of obtaining information from reliable and official sources, he added.
Some of the rumors were related to the number of patients or the discovery of new infected cases in Palestinian villages and cities, as well as fake medical news about the disease, the report revealed.
According to Rimawi, the MADA campaign contributed to motivating institutions, activists and social media groups and other media outlets to join the war on rumors and fake news.
The PA government’s daily briefings on the coronavirus played a significant role in the decrease of rumors and fake news, he said.
PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, PA government spokesman Ibrahim Milhem and PA Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila have appeared on a regular basis at press briefings to provide information about the latest developments surrounding the coronavirus crisis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The report found that most of the rumors and fake news appeared on Palestinian social media platforms and other media outlets during March.
In April, however, the phenomenon decreased, apparently because of the government’s daily briefings and a crackdown by PA security forces on Palestinians suspected of spreading rumors and fake news about the virus.
On the eve of April Fool’s Day, PA governor of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, Laila Ghannam, warned Palestinians against playing pranks or spreading lies in connection with the coronavirus. “We won’t allow any manipulation of the emotions of citizens, especially during these sensitive circumstances,” Ghannam cautioned in a Facebook post.
As part of its effort to curb the spread of rumors and fake news, MADA and the Palestinian Committee to Support Journalists organized a roundtable discussion in the Gaza Strip on March 12 on the rumors concerning the coronavirus and the “role of the media in maintaining social peace.”
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