Social diffusion sources can escape detection
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date
2022-09-16
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Mcode
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Language
en
Pages
21
1-21
1-21
Series
iScience, Volume 25, issue 9
Abstract
Influencing others through social networks is fundamental to all human societies. Whether this happens through the diffusion of rumors, opinions, or viruses, identifying the diffusion source (i.e., the person that initiated it) is a problem that has attracted much research interest. Nevertheless, existing literature has ignored the possibility that the source might strategically modify the network structure (by rewiring links or introducing fake nodes) to escape detection. Here, without restricting our analysis to any particular diffusion scenario, we close this gap by evaluating two mechanisms that hide the source—one stemming from the source's actions, the other from the network structure itself. This reveals that sources can easily escape detection, and that removing links is far more effective than introducing fake nodes. Thus, efforts should focus on exposing concealed ties rather than planted entities; such exposure would drastically improve our chances of detecting the diffusion source.Description
Funding Information: P.H. was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, grant number JP 21H04595. M.C. was supported by the Ministry of Universities of the Government of Spain, under the program “Convocatoria de Ayudas para la recualificación del sistema universitario español para 2021-2023, de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, de 1 de Julio de 2021”. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors
Keywords
Applied sciences, Computer science, Computer systems organization, Internet, Internet-based information systems, Social sciences
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Citation
Waniek , M , Holme , P , Cebrian , M & Rahwan , T 2022 , ' Social diffusion sources can escape detection ' , iScience , vol. 25 , no. 9 , 104956 , pp. 1-21 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104956
