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arXiv · 1804.05711

Repetitive users network emerges from multiple rumor cascades

Abstract

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.

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Daqing Li, Jiali Gao, Jichang Zhao, Zilong Zhao, Levy Orr, Shlomo Havlin. 2018-04-16. Repetitive users network emerges from multiple rumor cascades. https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.05711

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