Phys.org reports:

Since the rise of the internet and social media, society has become well-acquainted with the idea of “virality” as the rapid spread of ideas and information (or misinformation). The relatively recent COVID-19 pandemic also reminded modern society of how rapidly viruses spread and how they impact society.

As it turns out, the idea of information spreading like a virus is not just an apt metaphor—information virality can also be scientifically modeled in the same way as an actual virus.

One of the better known “viral outbreaks” of misinformation in history is the “Great Fear of 1789.” In a matter of only a couple of weeks, between July 20, 1789 and August 6, 1789, rumors that the aristocracy were planning to starve the peasants spread throughout France, leading to panic, unrest, and riots.

While this conspiracy was not based in fact, this time period was rife with unrest between the peasantry and aristocracy and the event played a key role in the French Revolution, eventually leading to the collapse of feudalism.

Much debate and confusion has surrounded the manner in which the Great Fear spread so quickly. However, in a new study, published in Nature, a team of researchers have taken a different approach at figuring out this mystery by modeling the spread of the rumors circulated during the Great Fear of 1789 with the same epidemiological approach used to study the transmission of viruses. [Continue reading…]