Table 7.

Criteria and examples for scoring the argument quality of a rebuttal (translated into English from Chinese).

Score	Example	Description
[0,0.5]	●Yansong Bai did not talk with Nanshan Zhong. ●80 Chinese citizens were mistreated in isolation in Russia is not true.	A flat counterstatement of fake news without providing any valid arguments, i.e., the message's argument reveals weak evidence, slipshod reasoning, and the like, indicating that the strength of the argument is weak.
(0.5,1]	●Refute the rumor! Yansong Bai exclusive reply: tonight I did not dialog Nanshan Zhong. ●Zhengli Shi (A researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology): can guarantee that Wuhan Institute of Virology currently has no infections.	Refuting fake news with cited evidence and reasons that are not very good, adequate, or powerful, such as using a relevant person or an organization's response, indicating that the strength of the argument is medium.
(1,2]	●Wuhan Institute of Virology can guarantee that it currently has zero infections; Yanling Huang herself responded that she has not returned to Wuhan after graduation and has not been infected. ●Xiaogan (a city in Hubei Province) police debunked the rumor that the owner did not move the car due to death from COVID-19; at the same time, the car owner's company solemnly declared: the car owner is healthy, and the rumors on the online social media are not true.	Refuting fake news with a combination of evidence and reasons, such as using both a person's and an organization's response; the message contains powerful arguments, good evidence, sound reasoning, and so on, indicating that the strength of the argument is strong.

Note: a. For brevity, we only show the text that can indicate the strength of the rebuttal argument and do not list the full rebuttal postings. b. Keywords concerning the quality of the argument are italicized.