Utah Emergency Management shares how to stop the spread of misinformation

SALT LAKE CITY — Moments after the 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit in Magna Wednesday, rumors spread throughout Twitter that a second, higher magnitude earthquake was expected.

Some tweets claimed sources like FEMA and the University of Utah seismology department had confirmed the predictions and added that Utahns should fill their cars with gas.

Later Wednesday morning, Utah Emergency Management tweeted a statement correcting the false rumor.

"#Rumorstop There are rumors out there that earthquakes can be predicted. They cannot be predicted, however, we expect that the earthquake we felt today was the largest one of the sequence. That is true in 95% of earthquakes. #utquake," the tweet read.

More tweets from Emergency Management followed, clarifying the misinformation again.

A recent study by Pew Research shows that Americans see made-up news as a problem that needs to be fixed, but only 20% of U.S. adults believe the public is responsible for reducing made-up news and information.

Joe Dougherty, public information officer for Utah Emergency Management, said it’s a problem any social media user can help solve.

"The first thing that we would ask everyone to do is to verify before you hit retweet, or repost, or share," Dougherty told KSL.com. "Take a minute and think: Does this sound like something official?"

According to Dougherty, official organizations like FEMA and U. will always remain active on social media to update the public on important information.

"It takes 5 seconds to either Google or look on Twitter or Facebook just to see, are any of those agencies actually saying the thing that I am about to tell people?" Dougherty said. "If they're not saying it, then don't share it."

Though most U.S. adults say they’ve changed their news consumption habits in response to made-up news or false rumors, according to the Pew study, social media users still don't completely ignore fake news.

Thirty-one percent of U.S. adults at least sometimes click on a link to a story they believe is made up, and 52% say they have shared made-up news without knowing it was false when they shared it.

"It's really just an interesting kind of information war that people are willing to put information out without verifying it," Dougherty said. "Unfortunately, that has become part of our culture."

The study revealed that more than half of U.S. adults said fake news has a major impact on their confidence in government and confidence in each other. It also impacts political leaders’ ability to get their job done.

Dougherty said Utah Emergency Management’s good relationship with the media helps to stop the spread of misinformation as soon as it starts, and reduce public panic.

"If people aren't following us, at least if they're following all of the news media, they will see what rumors are being put down," Dougherty said.

The department’s network of trusted sources might not be as accessible to the public, which is why Dougherty said it’s important to follow verified sources. The U. seismology department, for example, is considered a trusted source for earthquakes in Utah, especially since it's in charge of all the state’s seismology stations.

"We make sure that any information we share has been verified, and it's been vetted with people who are either on scene at an incident or through our other trusted sources," Dougherty said.

Over half (67%) of U.S. adults from the Pew study said they thought made-up news designed to mislead causes a great deal of confusion and significant harm to the nation. Beyond some initial public panic, earthquake damage and busy gas stations, Dougherty said there was no physical harm caused by the circulated misinformation this time.

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