AMMAN, Nov. 1 (Petra) – The Jordan Media Credibility Monitor (Akeed), an initiative of the Jordan Media Institute, recorded 133 rumors circulating across domestic and digital platforms during October, marking a 41 percent surge compared to 94 instances registered in September.
According to Akeed’s monthly report released Sunday, the October figure sits approximately 27 percent above the 12-month trailing monthly average of 105 rumors (October 2025 – September 2026). The monitor attributed the escalation to external accounts leveraging regional crises to disseminate targeted disinformation.
The report revealed that security and political rumors jointly dominated the monthly classification, accounting for 34 cases each (26 percent per domain), representing a combined 51 percent of total tracked misinformation. Social rumors ranked third with 29 cases (22 percent), followed by general public affairs with 19 cases (14 percent), economic topics with 13 cases (10 percent), and healthcare-related claims with four cases (3 percent).
Source tracking indicates that 38 rumors (29 percent) originated exclusively from foreign accounts. A further 95 rumors (71 percent) were amplified by a mix of domestic, foreign, and unverified digital sources, underscoring systemic vulnerabilities in public data sharing across unauthenticated social media channels.
External disinformation campaigns concentrated predominantly in the political and security sectors, representing 21 of the 34 political rumors and 16 of the 34 security rumors logged. Conversely, economic, public affairs, and health-related rumors were identified as entirely domestic in origin.
Social media platforms served as the primary dissemination vector, hosting 83 rumors (62 percent), while traditional news outlets republished or originated 50 cases (38 percent). Security and social claims dominated social media shares (41 out of 83 cases), whereas political rumors formed the majority of press-driven misinformation (19 out of 50 cases).
Official state bodies issued formal denials or clarifying statements for 49 of the tracked cases (37 percent), while 84 rumors (63 percent) went uncountered during the monitoring window.
Under Akeed's methodology, a claim is classified as a rumor if it pertains to Jordanian public affairs or national interests and reaches an estimated minimum threshold of 5,000 users via digital media channels, regardless of whether official refutations are subsequently issued.
//Petra// AA
