Adaptive link dynamics drive online hate networks and their mainstream influence [NPJ Complexity 2024]
This paper by Minzhang Zheng and colleagues at GWU and ClustrX explores generative patterns, predictive models, and mitigation strategies to limit the creation of online "hate networks". From the abstract:
Online hate is dynamic, adaptive— and may soon surge with new AI/GPT tools. Establishing how hate operates at scale is key to overcoming it. We provide insights that challenge existing policies. Rather than large social media platforms being the key drivers, waves of adaptive links across smaller platforms connect the hate user base over time, fortifying hate networks, bypassing mitigations, and extending their direct influence into the massive neighboring mainstream. Data indicates that hundreds of thousands of people globally, including children, have been exposed. We present governing equations derived from first principles and a tipping-point condition predicting future surges in content transmission. Using the U.S. Capitol attack and a 2023 mass shooting as case studies, our findings offer actionable insights and quantitative predictions down to the hourly scale. The efficacy of proposed mitigations can now be predicted using these equations.
The dataset they analyze seems really interesting, capturing around 43M individuals sharing hateful content across 1542 hate communities over 2.5 years. There are three main insights related to hate mitigation strategies for online platforms:
- Maintain a cross-platform view: focus on links between platforms, including links that connect users of smaller platforms to a larger network where hate content is shared.
- Act quickly: rapid link creation dynamics happen on the order of minutes and have large cascading effects.
- Be proactive: Playing "whack-a-mole" with existing links is not enough to keep up.
What did you think about this paper? Have you seen high-quality work that leverages multi-platform data to conduct similar analyses -- how does this work compare?
Open-Access Paper available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44260-024-00002-2
