BALTIMORE — When a magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck Iran in October 2024, it took just 17 minutes for social media users to transform a natural geological event into an international nuclear conspiracy theory. A new study from Johns Hopkins University reveals how scientific misinformation can spiral into a geopolitical crisis in the digital age.
The event occurred about 31 miles southwest of Semnan and 134 miles east of Tehran. Iran’s location makes it particularly susceptible to earthquakes. The country sits at the convergence of two massive tectonic plates, the Arabian and Eurasian plates, which are constantly moving and grinding against each other. This geological setting has produced numerous earthquakes throughout history, including similar events in the same region in 2015 and 2018.
Within minutes of the 2024 earthquake, automated accounts started sharing basic information...
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