Mitigating Disinformation in Social Networks through Noise

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Riazi, Diana, Livan, Giacomo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Riazi, Diana
Livan, Giacomo
author_facet Riazi, Diana
Livan, Giacomo
contents An abundance of literature has shown that the injection of noise into complex socio-economic systems can improve their resilience. This study aims to understand whether the same applies in the context of information diffusion in social networks. Specifically, we aim to understand whether the injection of noise in a social network of agents seeking to uncover a ground truth among a set of competing hypotheses can build resilience against disinformation. We implement two different stylized policies to inject noise in a social network, i.e., via random bots and via randomized recommendations, and find both to improve the population's overall belief in the ground truth. Notably, we find noise to be as effective as debunking when disinformation is particularly strong. On the other hand, such beneficial effects may lead to a misalignment between the agents' privately held and publicly stated beliefs, a phenomenon which is reminiscent of cognitive dissonance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_13630
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mitigating Disinformation in Social Networks through Noise
Riazi, Diana
Livan, Giacomo
Physics and Society
An abundance of literature has shown that the injection of noise into complex socio-economic systems can improve their resilience. This study aims to understand whether the same applies in the context of information diffusion in social networks. Specifically, we aim to understand whether the injection of noise in a social network of agents seeking to uncover a ground truth among a set of competing hypotheses can build resilience against disinformation. We implement two different stylized policies to inject noise in a social network, i.e., via random bots and via randomized recommendations, and find both to improve the population's overall belief in the ground truth. Notably, we find noise to be as effective as debunking when disinformation is particularly strong. On the other hand, such beneficial effects may lead to a misalignment between the agents' privately held and publicly stated beliefs, a phenomenon which is reminiscent of cognitive dissonance.
title Mitigating Disinformation in Social Networks through Noise
topic Physics and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.13630