On Twitter, it takes two hours to resolve a true rumor and 14 hours to debunk a false one
Rumors that are ultimately proven true tend to be resolved faster than those that turn out to be false. So are the results of a a recent paper published in PLoS One, from Pheme participants at the University of Warwick and Swissinfo.
False stories take much longer on average to be debunked because counter-evidence takes longer to come to light. It takes longer to investigate that something has not occurred than it does to prove something has indeed occurred.
The main implication of false rumors taking longer to be debunked than true rumors to be confirmed is that the longer it takes a rumor to be resolved, the more cautious you should be, as it is more likely to be false.
Read more on Vox.com: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/12/11211614/false-twitter-rumors
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