Modelling the effect of awareness on the spread of misinformation

Abstract We propose a model showing that taking an active role in stopping the spread of misinformation reduces its impact. To do this, we generalize the Maki–Thompson rumour model, where the population consists of spreaders, ignorants and stiflers. Spreaders try to spread the rumour through directed contacts. When a spreader contacts an ignorant, the ignorant becomes a spreader; otherwise, the initiating spreader becomes a stifler. In finite populations, the process reaches an equilibrium in which every individual is either a stifler or an ignorant. Our generalization adds a class of aware individuals who recognize the information as false. In a passive role, an aware individual exposed to misinformation simply avoids spreading it. In an active role, the aware individual not only refuses to propagate the rumour but also stops the spread by the contacting person. For homogeneously mixed populations, we prove limit theorems for the final proportion of ignorants as a function of the proportion of aware individuals and the probability of acting actively or passively. For populations represented by random networks, we perform computational analyses to compare both scenarios and find that propagation decreases sharply in active environments, with the largest differences occurring when awareness is about 30–40%.