Electronic Tagging and Disinformation: A Descriptive Study of the Qur'anic Treatment of Rumors

Social networking sites have become part of our lives, improving quality of life and speed of communication and offering countless benefits. They are, however, a double-edged sword whose benefit or harm depends on the aims of their users. These aims are quickly achieved through techniques that disseminate and classify posts by keywords, known as electronic tagging or the hashtag (#). This research addresses an issue that affects societies, threatens security, and fuels electronic terrorism and deviant ideas: disinformation and the spread of rumors through electronic hashtags. The researcher followed the inductive approach in tracing the relevant Qur'anic passages and the descriptive analytical approach in studying them. The research begins with the history of rumors and their impact on society, then explains electronic hashtags and their effect on disinformation, followed by the concept of rumors and the main reasons for their spread. Its core treats rumors through the greatest remedy for society's problems, the Holy Qur'an, by studying the verses that address and confront rumors. The research concludes with its most important findings: electronic hashtags have become an effective means of spreading electronic terrorism; the term "rumor" in its current sense is modern; creating and spreading rumors is the method of hypocrites in corrupting societies, followed by the weak of heart and mind; a key way to verify rumors is to refrain from spreading them until truth is distinguished from falsehood; and when a rumor spreads, a Muslim must think well of his fellow Muslims.