Strategies and effectiveness of the Chinese government debunking COVID-19 rumors on Sina Weibo: evaluating from emotions

ABSTRACT The Chinese government refuted rumors on social media for infodemic management when COVID-19 outbroke. This study selected 80 government accounts on Sina Weibo and collected 501 valid anti-rumor posts with comments from 18 January to 29 February 2020. This paper evaluated the effectiveness of rumor debunking from the public emotions reflected in the comments. This study also examined the influence of different anti-rumor strategies, such as fact-checking, rumor response modes, and presentation forms, on the effectiveness of rumor debunking. The findings revealed that fact-checking, combined response mode and text presentation could improve the effectiveness of rumor debunking to some extent. Further analysis of the public emotions indicated a correlation between the trust in government and the effectiveness of rumor debunking. These findings suggested building a multiparticipant response mechanism with medical institutions and media to mitigate the COVID-19 infodemic through targeted strategies, thus further increasing the government's credibility via information governance.