Key Points

• Rumor: How does an unverified piece of information turn into influential public opinion?

• Rumors in Peace and War: When are they merely media noise… and when do they become a strategic weapon?

• Defeatist Minds: How do certain minds become free carriers of rumors, revealing their own level of awareness?

• Modern Rumor Engineering: Language, voice, and timing as tools of psychological influence.

• The Rebounding Rumor: How can conscious analysis turn a rumor into a weapon against its own creator?

• How Society Confronts Rumors: Media awareness as the first line of defense.

Prepared by | Strategic Media Department – BETH News Agency
Supervision: Abdullah Al-Omira
Agency Director – Editor-in-Chief

Introduction

In times of wars and crises, battles are not fought only with missiles and aircraft, but also through information, words, and images.

In the world of digital media, rumors have become one of the most dangerous tools of influence, as they target minds before battlefields, seeking to affect morale, public awareness, and trust in institutions.

Experience has shown that an inaccurate piece of news or a fabricated clip can spread within minutes, creating psychological or political effects that may take far longer to correct than the time it took to spread.

Hence, it becomes essential to understand how rumors are made, why they spread, who stands behind them, and how they can be confronted.

Axis One

What is a Rumor? What Are Its Types? And How Does It Differ from Propaganda?

What is a rumor?

A rumor is a piece of information, a narrative, or a report that is unverified or not fully confirmed, spreading rapidly among people and gaining its influence more from circulation than from factual accuracy.

A rumor may be:

• Completely false
• Based on a fragment of truth
• A correct piece of information taken out of context to produce a misleading meaning

In other words:

A rumor is not always pure fabrication; it may be an incomplete truth manipulated in a misleading way.

Types of Rumors

Rumors can be classified into several main categories:

1. Fear Rumors
They spread during crises, wars, and disasters, aiming to provoke anxiety and panic, such as rumors about shortages of essential goods, security collapse, or imminent attacks.

2. Hope Rumors
People spread them because they want to believe them, such as the rumored end of a crisis or an unconfirmed positive political decision.

3. Defamation Rumors
They target individuals, institutions, or states with the aim of damaging reputation and undermining trust.

4. Political Rumors
Used to influence public opinion or test reactions to certain political developments.

5. Economic Rumors
Related to markets, companies, currencies, prices, and financial decisions, often spreading quickly because they directly affect interests.

6. Social Rumors
Circulate within societies around values, relationships, and behaviors, often fueling division and misunderstanding.

The Difference Between Rumors and Propaganda

Rumor

• May start spontaneously
• Relies on rapid circulation and ambiguity
• Does not always require a clearly identifiable source

Its strength lies in the phrase:
“People say.”

Propaganda

• Organized and intentional
• Usually backed by a power, authority, or political project
• Aims to influence public opinion continuously

In short:

Rumor = A quick bullet
Propaganda = A sustained campaign

BETH Commentary

Rumors live on vacuum:
a vacuum of information, trust, and awareness.

Propaganda, however, lives on planning, carefully selecting the message, the audience, and the timing.

Therefore, the greatest danger of a rumor is not merely its falsehood, but its ability to transform into public opinion if it finds a receptive environment.

Axis Two

Rumors in Peace and War

Rumors in Times of Peace

During peacetime, rumors often circulate around politics, economics, and society, and may be used to influence public perception and general trust.

Who creates them?

They may originate from:

• Political actors
• Economic pressure groups
• Market competitors
• Media networks or individuals seeking influence

Objectives

• Damaging reputations
• Confusing competitors
• Testing public reactions
• Pressuring political or economic decisions

How do they spread?

Mostly through:

• Social media platforms
• Unverified leaks
• Unreliable news websites
• Word-of-mouth circulation

Often a rumor begins as a question or speculation before turning into a circulating narrative.

Rumors in Times of War

During wars, rumors transform into direct psychological weapons.

They may originate from:

• State-linked media systems
• Psychological warfare units
• Electronic armies
• Political or military groups

Their goals

• Undermining the enemy’s morale
• Spreading panic and confusion
• Creating an illusion of victory
• Misleading international public opinion

Sometimes rumors are also used to test reactions before real military or political decisions are made.

Who spreads the rumor?

The creator rarely spreads the rumor directly. Instead, it spreads through indirect promoters such as:

• Anonymous accounts
• Influencers seeking visibility
• Unprofessional media platforms
• Individuals sharing information without verification

Thus, the rumor becomes a media snowball, growing larger with every share.

BETH Commentary

In times of peace, rumors may appear as mere media noise,
but in times of war they become a strategic instrument.

Misleading information can affect markets, political decisions, and military morale almost as strongly as weapons.

This is why information management has become part of national security systems.

Axis Three

Defeatist Minds… The Invisible Partner of Rumors

Beyond organized actors, rumors may spread through what can be described as defeatist minds within societies,
or through foolish minds that imagine themselves intelligent,
or through pretentious minds unaware that others may be more aware than they are.

Such individuals may not directly produce rumors, yet they often become free carriers of them, granting them a reach their creators could not achieve alone.

The Hidden Enemy

In many modern conflicts, rumor creators rely on the presence of a psychological environment ready to believe them.

Here emerges what can be called the hidden enemy: individuals who repeat negative narratives without verification.

Their motives may include:

• Political frustration
• Psychological defeatism
• Weak trust in institutions
• A pessimistic perception of reality

Why Target Strong States?

Many rumors target strong or stable states in order to:

• Break the perception of strength
• Undermine institutional trust
• Exaggerate small mistakes
• Create the impression that stability is an illusion

BETH Commentary

In modern wars, it is not enough for the adversary to create a rumor.

Sometimes it is enough that someone inside the society believes it and spreads it.

A rumor does not live on lies alone,
but on the psychological environment that accepts it.

Axis Four

The Making of Rumors: Between Voice and Rebound

In the digital age, rumors are no longer random pieces of information; they have become carefully engineered media products in language, voice, and timing.

Why are certain Arabic dialects used?

Many visual clips spreading rumors use specific Arabic dialects, especially the Egyptian dialect.

Analysts suggest this is due to:

• Its wide spread across the Arab world
• Its ease of understanding
• Its ability to create a sense of familiarity

However, using a dialect does not necessarily indicate the origin of the rumor.

The dialect may simply be a media tool of influence.

Do rumor creators consider the possibility of rebound?

In modern information warfare, a rumor can become a double-edged weapon.

Yet many rumor creators rely on:

• Speed of spread before verification
• Weak analytical awareness among some audiences

How can a rumor become a reversed weapon?

To turn a rumor against its creator, analysts must:

• Trace the original source
• Analyze timing and context
• Reveal contradictions
• Clarify the real objective behind the narrative

BETH Commentary

In modern media, the battle is not only about truth,
but about who explains the information first.

Conscious analysis can turn a rumor from a tool of deception into a strategic mistake for its creator.

Axis Five

Warning in Times of War

Has the era of rumors ended… or has it just begun?

In wartime, rumors become extremely dangerous because they target public awareness and societal morale.

Inaccurate information may spread within minutes, while correcting it may take much longer.

With the spread of social media, these platforms have become open theaters for rumors, where factual news mixes with misleading narratives.

Some rumor creators attempt to develop their tools and techniques, yet the problem often lies not in the tools but in the minds behind them.

Many of these attempts appear obvious and even laughable, yet they remain dangerous in wartime because societies live in states of anxiety that allow rumors to produce rapid psychological effects.

Thus, rumors today are not necessarily smarter—
but they are more widespread in a more tense world.

BETH Commentary

Rumors may seem as old as wars themselves,
yet today they have entered a far more complex phase.

Thanks to technology, rumors have become:

• Faster in spreading
• More convincing
• Harder to detect

Therefore the question is no longer:

Has the era of rumors ended?

Perhaps the more accurate question is:

Has the greatest era of rumors in history just begun?

In a world where information moves without limits, awareness and professional analysis remain the first line of defense for truth.

When a rumor fails, not only does its narrative collapse… but the intelligence of its creator collapses with it.

How Can Society Confront Rumors?

The best weapon against rumors is not emotional reaction but awareness and discipline in sharing information.

This begins with verifying sources before publishing information, relying on official authorities and professional media institutions, and understanding that many rumors are designed to spread fear or undermine trust.

Raising media awareness allows societies to recognize misinformation and prevents rumors from transforming into public opinion.

Meanwhile, amplifying rumors through repeated discussion often grants them wider exposure than they deserve.

The simple rule proven by experience is:

Rumors live on repetition… and die in the presence of awareness.

Image

A sudden and powerful strike when the rumor rebounds back onto its creator.