Hybrid rumor debunking in online social networks : a differential game approach

Gan, Chenquan (author), Yang, Wei (author), Zhu, Qingyi (author), Li, Meng (author), Jain, Deepak Kumar (author), Štruc, Vitomir (author), Huang, Da-Wen (author)

Online social networks (OSNs) facilitate the rapid and extensive spreading of rumors. While most existing methods for debunking rumors consider a solitary debunker, they overlook that rumor-mongering and debunking are interdependent and confrontational behaviors. In reality, a debunker must consider the impact of rumor-mongering behavior when making decisions. Moreover, a single rumor-debunking strategy is ineffective in addressing the complexity of the rumor environment in networks. Therefore, this article proposes a hybrid rumor-debunking approach that combines truth dissemination and regulatory measures based on the differential game theory under adversarial behaviors of rumor-mongering and debunking. Toward this end, we first establish a rumor propagation model using node-based modeling techniques that can be applied to any network structure. Next, we mathematically describe and analyze the processes of rumor-mongering and debunking. Finally, we validate the theoretical results of the proposed method through various comparative experiments, including comparisons with a random strategy, a uniform strategy, and single strategy models on real-world datasets collected from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Furthermore, we harness two actual rumor events to estimate parameters and predict rumor propagation, thereby affirming the veracity and effectiveness of our rumor propagation model.

• Language: English
• Keywords: systems theory, modelling, social networks, rumor spreading
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 2513-2527
• Numbering: Vol. 55, no. 4
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-168065
• UDC: 004.7:316.472.4-027.44
• ISSN on article: 2168-2232
• DOI: 10.1109/TSMC.2025.3526734
• COBISS.SI-ID: 229616643
• Publication date in RUL: 27.03.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: IEEE transactions on systems, man, and cybernetics : Systems
• Shortened title: IEEE trans. syst. man cybern., Syst.
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• ISSN: 2168-2232
• COBISS.SI-ID: 19677462

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: teorija sistemov, modeliranje, socialna omrežja, širjenje govoric