Every incident or crisis has its own rumors. Although there can always be different reasons for spreading or circulating a rumor, it seems as if the lack of information is the source of the 'evil'. The most logical reaction to suppress a rumor is to tell how it really is. But is this always an effective method? And how else can you deal with online rumors?
In this article an answer to these questions. But we start with the core question: how bad is an online rumor?
Shortly after a fire broke out in Oosterhout, a message on afghanistan mobile phone number list Twitter stated that the sirens (WAS poles) had gone off. Among others, on the Twitter account of @NRC: 'Air raid siren due to very large fire at chemical company Oosterhout'. This message was quickly refuted, among others by the police , who tweeted: 'Smoke is going over the city of #Breda , via #Zundert , currently over Belgium. Sirens did not go off.' During and after the incident, the sirens were a constant topic of conversation. Ultimately, this resulted in strong statements from politicians about the use of the sirens. And all that as a result of a small rumor on Twitter.