unfounded fear

In a joint statement on 11 May, the unions said that "morale has understandably dipped", driven by "unfounded fear of personal criminal liability" and emotional distress.

The unions said the men also suffered emotional distress from witnessing the crash and have an “unfounded fear of personal criminal liability.”

There was no medical reason for the quarantine; the government was simply responding to the public’s unfounded fear and ignorance.

Yves Jacquier, the executive director of Ubisoft La Forge, the research and development team responsible for Ghostwriter, said there had been a similar but unfounded fear that video game animators would be replaced when motion capture was introduced decades ago.

We could call it a moral panic, a widespread and often unfounded fear about some deviant or alien entity in society.