2018/04/16 by Daqing Li, Jiali Gao, Li, Daqing +9
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #FOS: Physical sciences #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1804.05711
openalex publication_date 2018/04/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Rumor spreading on online social media is presenting a significant threat to society of post-truth epoch. Extensive efforts have been devoted to rumor identification and debunking, assuming that a specific rumor propagation is a single event network and neglecting possible interdependence between different rumor cascades. Here we study the collective propagation of multiple rumors, and surprisingly find a network of users that repeatedly participate in different rumor cascades. Though these repetitive users demonstrate minor difference at the level of single propagation network, they are found to form a significantly more intensive collaboration network from multiple rumor cascades compared to news propagation. The clique-like cluster formed by repetitive rumor spreaders can serve as a high quality feature for rumor identification and blocking targets for rumor prevention. Our findings can provide a better understanding of rumor spread by viewing multiple rumor propagations as one interacting rumor ecosystem, and suggest novel methods for distinguishing and mitigation based on rumor spreading history.