WASHINGTON, July 30, 2024 – Spreading false or misleading information online has never been easier. The anonymous and impersonal nature of the internet, coupled with advanced tools like artificial intelligence, makes it easier for bad actors to manipulate the truth, and harder for everyone to separate fact from fiction. In this modern climate of disinformation, understanding how lies and rumors spread is critical to combating them.
In an article published in AIP Advances, researchers from Shandong Normal University have developed a new model of rumor propagation, inspired by nuclear reactions. Their model could provide new insights into how misinformation spreads online and how to combat it.
Mathematical models can simulate how rumors spread and find ways to counter them. These models are often adapted from epidemic models, where rumors replace microbes because they are similarly contagious. While current models are broadly useful, they do not capture the full picture of the spread of misinformation.
“Infectious disease models often view the spread of rumors as a passive process of receiving infection, thus ignoring people’s behavioral and psychological changes in the real world, as well as the influence of external events on the spread of rumors,” said author Wen Rong Cheng.
By contrast, the team identified similarities between the spread of rumors and fission, the reaction that occurs inside nuclear reactors. In their model, rumors act like neutrons, the tiny particles that start nuclear fission. People see these rumors and send them to other people in a chain reaction.
“When individuals encounter rumors, they are influenced by their personal interests and decide whether to spread them or whether repeated exposure is necessary before spreading them,” Zheng said. “Based on different considerations of uranium fission thresholds, individuals are divided into groups based on the influence of their own interest thresholds, fully considering individual behavior and differences, which is more in line with reality.”
This new perspective on the spread of rumors can provide insights into how rumors spread, and what individuals can do to mitigate them.
“The prevalence of rumors is closely related to the proportion of rational netizens,” Cheng said. “This reflects the importance of education: the higher the level of education, the easier it is to question rumors when receiving information that is difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.”
This approach could also help guide governments and media experts looking to combat misinformation.
“We found that rumors spread on a small scale in the initial stage, so official platforms need to conduct real-time monitoring. When rumors are discovered to be potentially spreading, the government or official media should verify the content of the rumors and make corrections so that rational citizens can effectively prevent the spread of rumors.”
/General Release. This material from the original organization/authors may be chronological in nature and has been edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or parties, and all opinions, positions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors alone.View Full here.
