53K rumors spread in Egypt in only 60 days, study reveals

CAIRO – 13 November 2017: 53,000 rumors were spread in Egypt in only 60 days, particularly during September and October, by different means, but most of them were circulated through social media platforms, a study conducted by the Parliament’s Committee of Communication and Information Technology revealed.

The study came out after a parliamentarian member from the committee, Ahmed Badawi, had contacted governmental bodies to investigate the amount of rumors that were about Egypt, how they affected the state and how they spread.

He disclosed through his study that some media outlets cited nearly 30% of these rumors as true news without double checking.

The parliamentarian gave an example of a rumor that spread during the last two months and had a negative impact on prices, pointing to a rumor spread about the price hike of medicine that later affected the selling price for the public.

Another rumor on the price increase of petroleum products during the next two months was also spread; however, the minister of petroleum denied any increase until June.
Badawi noted that there are websites and pages administrated by crooks circulating rumors in order to affect the Egyptian society.