Preventing rumor spreading on small-world networks

Abstract

Since the spreading of harmful rumors can deeply endanger a society, it is valuable to investigate strategies that can efficiently prevent hazardous rumor propagation. To conduct this investigation, the authors modify the SIR model to describe rumor propagation on networks, and apply two major immunization strategies, namely, the random immunization and the targeted immunization to the rumor model on a small-world network. The authors find that when the average degree of the network is small, both two strategies are effective and when the average degree is large, neither strategy is efficient in preventing rumor propagation. In the latter case, the authors propose a new strategy by decreasing the credibility of the rumor and applying either the random or the targeted immunization at the same time. Numerical simulations indicate that this strategy is effective in preventing rumor spreading on the small-world network with large average degree.