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False rumors are able to spread throughout a large population before being debunked. Corrections, however, are only really able to spread to people who previous

False rumors are able to spread throughout a large population before being debunked. Corrections, however, are only really able to spread to people who previously saw the rumor. Furthermore, many people who shared the rumor may be less likely to share the correction, since it makes them look gullible for sharing the unverified rumor in the first place. So it's much harder for a correction to spread virally. If there were a system in place so that false rumors could be debunked in real-time, in-line (as opposed to using a separate retroactive correction), they would be less likely to spread as far. The closest thing I can think of would be something like Genius.

jiggy2011 12y ago
You would need a system to decide which debunkings were legitimate.
aestra 12y ago
Long ago debunked rumors spread just as fast. When I was in MIDDLE SCHOOL two decades ago there was a rumor spreading around saying gangs kill people who flash their headlights at cars who drive around without their lights on at night. According to Wikipedia it is older than that, it has been around since the 80s[1]. This is completely false and has been debunked for an extremely long time. However about 6 months ago it was being shared ALL OVER my Facebook feed like it was new "news." All anyone had to do was take TWO SECONDS to see if what they were sharing was true or not. That's asking too much. I don't think anyone cares they are spreading false information. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlight_flashing#Urban_legend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlight_flashing#Urban_legend