Online rumors deserve zero tolerance

Many coffee drinkers in China have been in a panic after a post was circulated on social media on the weekend alleging that coffee causes cancer. Beijing News comments:

The post quoted a report that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said in a decision on Wednesday that Starbucks and other companies had failed to show there was no significant risk from a carcinogen produced in the coffee roasting process.

People should raise their media literacy and ask more questions before believing everything they read. The article was deliberately being sensational by warning people that coffee was carcinogenic without saying how much might be dangerous.

In fact, the culprit in coffee, acrylamide, is a chemical produced in the bean roasting process and is common in many baked and roasted foods. Statistics show as long as an adult does not drink more than 40 cups of coffee a day, he or she need not worry about coffee causing cancer.

Warning people about dangers related to their food, drink and lifestyles－usually without any support from professionals－is the easiest way to boost a post's number of viewers on social media, which is key to the profitability of the account and platform owners.

The social media companies are obliged to counter the rumors and build up a blacklist of those posting such posts. The internet administration departments have every right to close accounts that have long depended on rumor-generated profits, and the public security authorities must hunt down the rumor makers and main spreaders of rumors to keep cyberspace clean and tidy.

More important, the experts and institutions on public health and food sciences have no reasons to sit idle whenever such rumors go viral. As long as they turn up and respond quickly with the truth, the rumors will swiftly die.

Once the golden time, usually a few hours, to refute a food-related rumor is wasted, it will be more difficult to drive home the true message. As the people have zero-tolerance over food safety issues, the authorities should at least demonstrate the same attitude to win the people's trust.