How OutbreakThreat ranks credibility tiers

Why tiers exist

During fast events, social networks amplify unverified claims faster than laboratories confirm cases. Tiering keeps the default /map and email alerts focused on traceable sources.

Users can still choose broader views when researching, but defaults favor official URLs.

Tiers describe publisher type, not disease severity. A CHATTER post could mention a real event badly; an OFFICIAL notice might describe a small cluster.

We revise tiers when a signal gains or loses an authoritative link.

OFFICIAL tier criteria

OFFICIAL signals point to recognized public health publishers: U.S. federal .gov sites, WHO, ECDC, FDA, USDA, and U.S. state or territorial health department domains we allowlist.

The URL must be the agency's own notice, not a screenshot mirror on a blog.

Subscriber email alerts for outbreak matches generally require OFFICIAL tier by product rules.

If multiple official links exist, we display the most specific document cited by the agency chain.

EMERGING tier criteria

EMERGING may include university dashboards, hospital system statements, or major news outlets quoting named health officials before a .gov mirror appears.

These signals can help power users track early narrative but should be verified against OFFICIAL posts.

We may promote EMERGING to OFFICIAL when a government URL publishes, or demote if the story is retracted.

Marketing and SEO pages still prefer OFFICIAL citations for AdSense quality standards.

CHATTER tier and exclusion defaults

CHATTER includes anonymous social posts, forums, and unverified viral threads without publisher linkage.

Default API and map queries exclude CHATTER to reduce noise.

CHATTER does not mean 'false' automatically; it means we cannot trace the claim to an allowed official document yet.

Report corrections via /contact if you believe a signal is miscategorized and can supply a primary URL.

Practical use for readers

Enable official-only filters when sharing screenshots publicly.

Read the linked source text on every card; tiers are shortcuts, not substitutes.

Compare tier with geography breadth on /map - OFFICIAL plus broad region still requires reading the notice.

See /reports for chronological OFFICIAL listings.

Examples of tier assignments in practice

A state health department PDF on measles exposure receives OFFICIAL tier immediately because the domain and document type match our allowlist. A local TV station article quoting the health director without linking the PDF might be EMERGING until the .gov URL appears in our feed.

A viral thread claiming a biolab leak without a publisher URL stays CHATTER and never triggers subscriber email under default rules. If a WHO DON later confirms a unrelated laboratory accident, a separate OFFICIAL card would publish with the WHO link.

University wastewater dashboards may be EMERGING when they provide useful trend data before CDC posts a companion interpretation. Promotion to OFFICIAL can occur when a state health department mirrors the same data on a .gov site.

Readers can inspect tier badges on /map popups and /alerts list cards before sharing.

Transparency and corrections

Our /editorial-policy describes human review for edge cases such as compromised government domains or spoofed PDFs. We remove or downgrade signals that fail verification.

If an agency retracts a notice, we update or hide the signal to match publisher status. Retractions are rare but important for trust.

Tiering does not evaluate your personal risk. It evaluates whether we can trace the claim to an allowed institutional publisher.

Contact /contact with primary URLs if you believe we misclassified a signal so editors can re-review.

Comparing tiers with other information sources

Social platforms label state-controlled media and user-generated content differently from scientific publishers. OutbreakThreat tiers are narrower: we care whether a disease signal links to public health institutions.

Academic preprints without peer review are not OFFICIAL unless a health agency adopts them in a notice.

Crowdsourced illness maps may help individuals log symptoms but do not replace legal outbreak reporting from clinicians.

When researching, open OFFICIAL links first, then EMERGING for context, and ignore CHATTER in default views unless verifying rumors.

Read /sources to see domain allowlists and feed types behind tier assignment.

Extended transparency for researchers and journalists

When citing OutbreakThreat in journalism, quote the OFFICIAL publisher URL shown on the card rather than our summary alone. Tiers help you filter; they do not replace primary sources in footnotes.

Researchers studying infodemiology can export OFFICIAL-tier chronology from /reports to compare lag between agency publication and social amplification. EMERGING and CHATTER tiers illustrate rumor cycles separately.

If you believe a signal is miscategorized, email /contact with the primary .gov or WHO link. Editors re-review allowlists when agencies change domains or during cyber incidents affecting government sites.

Read /editorial-policy alongside this guide when AdSense quality reviewers evaluate how we separate commentary from institutional publishers.

Product features tied to tiers

Email alert defaults emphasize OFFICIAL tier to reduce rumor-driven notifications.

Map defaults hide CHATTER to keep first-time visitors focused on traceable publishers.

API consumers can request broader tiers when building research tools with appropriate disclaimers.

Credibility tiers are our editorial shorthand for publisher traceability. They help you filter /map and email alerts toward .gov and WHO documents while leaving research tools available for broader tiers when you need them. Tiers do not judge your personal risk, moral character, or whether a story will trend online. When OFFICIAL and EMERGING signals disagree, default to OFFICIAL for behavior and use EMERGING only to understand what might publish next. We document allowlists on /sources and welcome corrections at /contact when domains change after government IT migrations. Researchers comparing media amplification to institutional publishing can export OFFICIAL chronology from /reports to measure lag between .gov publication and social peaks without treating shares as confirmed case counts.

OutbreakThreat maintains evergreen guides such as this how outbreakthreat ranks credibility tiers page so readers can study public health monitoring using traceable agency documents on /sources, /alerts, /map, and /reports. When a notice affects you, open the publisher PDF for dates and cohort language, then contact your clinician or local health department for personal decisions. Email watches on /subscribe can notify you when new OFFICIAL-tier signals match places and diseases you select. Our credibility tier labels on /map help you prioritize .gov and WHO links over commentary. This educational text does not provide medical diagnosis, treatment, or legal mandates.

Related guides

• how to read public health outbreak notice
• what who disease outbreak news means
• why outbreak maps show broad regions
• how often agencies update outbreak notices

FAQ

Can tier change after publication?

Yes. When agencies publish or retract, we update tier and metadata.

Does OFFICIAL mean safe to ignore?

No. It means the publisher is authoritative. Risk still depends on your exposures.