Amman: The Jordanian Media Credibility Observatory (Akeed) has reported a total of ninety-three rumors for the month of July, as part of its ongoing initiative to track and analyze misinformation trends. This initiative is funded by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development and operates under the auspices of the Jordan Media Institute.
According to Jordan News Agency, the observatory's latest monthly report, released on Saturday, introduced a new index for evaluating rumor density. This index compares the number of rumors recorded in a given month against a twelve-month historical average. The findings for July indicated a decrease in rumor activity, with the ninety-three rumors falling below the historical average of one hundred and four, marking a decline of eleven rumors or approximately 10.7 percent.
The report categorized the rumors into various sectors, with political rumors leading at twenty-five instances, making up 26.9 percent of the total. Economic rumors followed with twenty-two instances or 23.6 percent, while security-related rumors accounted for seventeen instances at 18.3 percent. Public affairs, social topics, and health-related rumors were less prevalent, with thirteen, nine, and seven instances respectively.
The combined total of political, economic, and security rumors amounted to sixty-four, representing 68.8 percent of the overall monitoring volume. A significant majority of these rumors, sixty-eight to be precise, originated from domestic sources, constituting 73.1 percent of the total. In contrast, twenty-five rumors were traced back to external sources, accounting for 26.9 percent.
Social media emerged as the dominant channel for rumor dissemination, responsible for spreading sixty-five rumors or 69.9 percent of the total, while traditional media outlets were linked to twenty-eight rumors or 30.1 percent. Among the domestically sourced rumors, social media platforms were responsible for propagating fifty-three, compared to fifteen via traditional media, highlighting a digital spread rate of approximately 77.9 percent for domestic rumors.
The report also highlighted that of the ninety-three rumors recorded, fifty-eight were officially refuted during July, resulting in a 62.4 percent refutation rate, whereas thirty-five rumors, or 37.6 percent, remained unrefuted.