Rumor Control Center

Rumor control centers (RCC) and rumor control mechanisms, identify, investigate and mitigate potentially disruptive rumors, capable of driving a cycle of harmful escalation. Rumor control centers, which often operate call centers, respond to crisis situations such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, or civil disturbances.

The well-developed crisis control centers established during the Cold War were among the earlier examples of effective rumor control mechanisms. In the United States, during the civil rights movement, rumor control centers were set up and operated with the assistance of the Community Relations Service (CRS), a "peacemaker" agency created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Rumor control centers have been established in the United States at different levels of governance, including municipal, regional, state-wide and national. Permanent rumor control centers serve a specific, local population, and have often been set up in response to specific incidents.

Social media makes it easier for rumors to spread, and more difficult for rumor control and fake news to be managed. By 2018, "rumor cascades" were under investigation as stories with serious inaccuracies were spread by millions of people."

Overview

According to a 2004 article by Heidi Burgess and Michelle Maiese, rumors—"knowledge gaps" with "serious inaccuracies" or "misinformation—can drive the cycle of destructive escalation" and contribute to making situations more disruptive. These rumors can be spread "through the mass media—television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet." First, Brugess and Maisse list three phases of a rumor control process. The first step requires a mechanism through which trusted, trained "rumor agents"—usually those experienced and active in conflict resolution—identify the most recent rumors in circulation. The second step requires a strategy for establishing the truth and/or falsehood of the rumors. These "rumor investigators" may also be rumor reporters. Thirdly, there is a need for mechanisms whereby the inaccurate reports can be replaced with reliable information.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Nieman Lab cited a ''Science'' report by MIT researchers that by March 2018, "fake news both reached more people than the truth and spread faster than the truth."Owen noted that "truth" and real news included stories that "had been fact-checked by outlets like Snopes and PolitiFact". The MIT researchers based their conclusions on "126,000 " rumor cascades" spread by about 3 million people".

Since 2007, Facebook has made attempts to combat rumor cascades by partnering with independent, third-party fact-checkers to identify inaccurate news stories, and to flag them with warning labels to caution users before sharing them.For example, the Coral Springs Police Facebook page has a warning entitled "Rumor Control" in which they provide a statement contextualizing an October 18, 2018 incident at the Coral Square Mall involving a 14-year-old girl.

Natural disasters

FEMA created the Hurricane Florence Rumor Control and the Hurricane Michael Rumor Control centers in response to the rumors surrounding Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael.

Historical context

Cold War

Brugess and Maisse described the Cold War crisis control centers as the "best-developed examples of rumor control mechanisms." They were "confidence-building measures aimed to prevent incomplete information about the actions of opposing military forces from escalating into a violent and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union". In his 1983 publication, ''Beyond the Hotline: Crisis Control to Prevent Nuclear War'', William L. Ury described how a crisis control system was created during the Cold War, "jointly staffed by U.S. and Soviet military and diplomatic officers." A hotline was established, which provided "direct" and "immediate" communication to alleviate some of the "above-normal risk of nuclear war" through "notification procedures for accidental missile launches".

U.S. civil rights movement

Rumor control centers were established during the civil rights movement in the United States using Community Relations Service (CRS) mediators, who provided reliable telephone numbers, (early call centers), where new rumors could be reported, assessed and the results of the assessment accessed. The trusted rumor agents were either CRS, police departments, city officials, or "people with authority." In a 1999 interview, Manuel Salinas, who served as mediator for CRS from 1968 to 1988,Manuel Salinas—prior to his 20 years as mediator with CRS (1968 - 1988)—was the state of Colorado's director of Service, Employment and Rehabilitation (SER), a jobs program that was part of the "war on poverty". said,

The first rumor center in the United States was established in July 1967 by the City of Chicago. "An office was equipped with a radio, television and type-writer, and a large map of the city hung on one of the walls. Ten telephone lines were also installed, including direct lines to the Police Department and Mayor's Office. Local government officials encouraged citizens to call the Center if they heard a "rumor"—defined as information unverified by official sources—that suggested social tensions in the city were increasing. The Seattle Rumor Center was established by the "citizen-directed" State Council of Churches, in response to the rise of racial tension in 1968. The Rumor Center was operated "to stop the spread of rumors that might cause tension, panic or bring harm to an individual or group of persons, particularly in situations involving race relations." The Center closed in 1973 "because the need had changed and government agencies had developed methods for dealing with rumor control."

By the end of the 1960s, a hundred cities across the United States had established RCCs. Local government, the private sector, and volunteers funded and operated the RCCs.

Niger uranium forgeries

On the eve of the Iraq War in the early 2000s, rumors and inaccuracies spread in the U.S. regarding weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including the false information, now known as the Niger uranium forgeries, regarding Iraq's attempted uranium purchase from Niger

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