Addressing the “Elephant in the Room”: Rumor Rebuttal in China during the COVID-19 Outbreak

• In Event: JSS: Media, Elite, and Public Political Communication in China

Brief Overview

This study explains the logic behind rumor rebuttal in authoritarian countries. I propose a theory about when and why an authoritarian government chooses to refute or censor online rumors, and conduct empirical testing based on an original dataset.

Author

• Ying Chi, Duke University