Rumormongering of genetically modified (GM) food on Chinese social network

Abstract This study employed digital footprints to explore why people engage in genetically modified (GM) food rumormongering on Chinese social media, Sina Weibo at both the group level and individual level. 9070 posts about GM food were obtained from 1 million users. Social network analysis was used to analyze the effect of peer influence on GM food rumormongering at the group level, and we did not find any effect that users would depend on their friendship network on social media to spread GM food rumors. To determine the effect of social media extravert, reputation and attitude on scientific rumormongering at the individual level, we used logistic regression. Results revealed that people who hold negative attitudes towards GM food and who are social media extraverts are more likely to spread rumors, while social reputation did not influence the spread of rumors.