Rumors in your friend group need a next stop. Refuse to be it.

Gossip only travels if each person passes it on, which means every one of them had a chance to end it. Declining to repeat something is unglamorous, invisible and the only thing that works, since the story stops wherever somebody decided not to carry it. It also costs you the small pleasure of holding information. That is the price, and it is not high.

When you hear something about somebody this week, let it end with you. Do not forward it, hint at it, or tell one person in confidence. If asked, say you would rather not repeat it.