IMPACT OF DIGITAL RUMOURS IN AN ACUTE EVENT (With reference to WhatsApp users)

The world is stumbled with the acute virus called COVID-19. Besides the spread of the virus, the rumours about the virus spread faster. This study focuses on the types of rumours that arose and spread during the acute event and the impact of such rumours on the netizens and also highlights the steps taken by the government to control the rumours. Both the primary and secondary data are used. The primary data was collected from 7 groups of a Netizen WhatsApp number and various literature was studied for the secondary data. A rumour classification model has developed with the help of secondary data. The statistical tool ANOVA is used to analyze the impact of different types of rumours. This study reveals that the Occurrence of Catholicon rumours and Subject Buzz rumors are more than the other rumours. Therefore, this study concludes by stating that all the rumours have an equal impact on society since people are more concerned about their health. Suggestions and techniques were given to identify and deduct rumours for both the WhatsApp users and the Whatsapp company.