The Role of Social Media in Promoting Rumors and Ways to Confront Them from the Perspective of University Students

Abstract

The current study aims to identify role of social in promoting rumors from the perspective of unive rsity stu dents. It also seeks to explore differences in the role of social in promoting rumors based on gender and academic specialization, and to develop methods to counter the spread of rumors on social media in light of the study’s findings. The researcher employed the descriptive approach, with the study sample for the questionnaire consisting of 600 male and female students from both scientific and humanities specializations in the Colleges of Arts, Political Science, Basic Education, Engineering, Nursing, and Pharmacy. The sample included 300 male and 300 female stud ents distributed across these colleges, representing all academic levels in morning studies for the 2024–2023 academic year, selected using stratified random sampling. Additionally, a sample of 10 male and female students from the College of Political Science at the University of Kufa was selected purposefully for the interview tool. To achieve the objectives of the current research, the researcher developed a questionnaire tool to assess the role of social media in promoting rumors, consisting of 30 items in its final form. The questionnaire's validity was confirmed through various methods, including expert validity and internal consistency validity. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The research findings revealed the significant role of social media in promoting rumors due to the features, services, and applications these platforms offer and support. This has made rumors faster to spread, more distorted, appealing, and easily accessible at any time. Factors contributing to a fertile environment for the spread of rumors via social media were identified in order of importance: unemployment, the declining role of educational institutions, the desire for attention, media competition, and a lack of security awareness. The findings showed no differences in the role of social media in promoting rumors from the perspective of university students based on gender (male vs. female). However, differences were observed based on academic specialization (scientific vs. humanities), with the humanities specialization showing a greater role in promoting rumors. The researcher presented a set of recommendations and suggestions.