95% Qataris immune to social media rumour-mongering

DOHA: Ninety-five percent of Qataris have not been impacted by rumours spread by the siege countries through social media with the knowledge that what was published was wrong, according to a graduation research study.

These samples include students from schools, universities, government agencies, the private sector and many other sectors. The questionnaire contained six questions.

Also, about 70 percent of the people included in the study had been exposed to false news, and only 20 percent did not expose to false news. The graduation research project was under the title “The extent of the impact of fabricated news and rumours on the formulation of Qatari public opinion and its impact on the Qataris”.

The study dealt with the issue of rumours and fabricated news through the means of social media, which recently targeted the Qatari society by the siege countries when they intended to spread false news and rumours  against the Qatari society.

The lies of the siege countries and their fabrications began with the hacking of Qatar News Agency (QNA) and falsely attributing a speech to Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The aim was to spread hostility and chaos between the people and destabilising the military and economic stability and this was the goal of the siege countries.

Rumours have been known to be information published by anonymous sources and are entirely based on falsifying the truth and distorting reality.

The study further confirmed that rumours have increased recently against Qatar and the social networking sites are the ideal place to promote these rumours and lies.

Among these rumours are that ‘Qatar is financing terrorism and supporting it’. These rumours are spread through the media of the siege countries, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bhrainand Egypt and caused a great confusion in the Qatari public opinion.

The study also showed that 90 percent of the respondents in the sample are regular followers of the social media and 10 percent are elder respondents occasionally follow social media sites.

To the question whether information on social media is full of false and lies, 98 percent said “yes” because they think what it has carried before the crisis, during the crisis was full of lies.

The group of students who conducted the study were Hanan Jassim Al Mohamadi, Anoud Al Khawar, Mariem Al Marzouqi, Fatima Al Darwish and Rasma Rashid Mohamed.