An entropy-based method to control COVID-19 rumors in online social networks using opinion leaders. (August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jain, Lokesh
• Is Part Of: Technology in society. Volume 70(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-08
• Subjects: COVID-19 rumors -- Opinion leader -- Online social network -- Entropy -- Reputation -- Health misinformation; Technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 303.483
• DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.102048
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0160-791X

Abstract

Abstract: - In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, people spread various COVID-19-related rumors and hoaxes that negatively influence human civilization through online social networks (OSN). The proposed research addresses the unique and innovative approach to controlling COVID-19 rumors through the power of opinion leaders (OLs) in OSN. The entire process is partitioned into two phases; the first phase describes the novel R eputation-based O pinion L eader I dentification (ROLI) algorithm, including a unique voting method to identify the top-T OLs in the OSN. The second phase describes the technique to measure the aggregated polarity score of each posted tweet/post and compute each user's reputation. The empirical reputation is utilized to calculate the user's trust, the post's entropy, and its veracity. If the experimental entropy of the post is lower than the empirical threshold value, the post is likely to be categorized as a rumor. The proposed approach operated on Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit social networks for validation. The ROLI algorithm provides 91% accuracy, 93% precision, 95% recall, and 94% F1-score over other Social Network Analysis (SNA) measures to find OLs in OSN. Moreover, the proposed approach's rumor controlling effectiveness and efficiency is also estimated based on three standard metrics; affected degree, represser degree, and diffuser degree, and obtained 26%, 22%, and 23% improvement, respectively. The concluding outcomes illustrate that the influence of OLs is exceptionally significant in controlling COVID-19 rumors. Highlights: A novel ROLI algorithm addresses to find the OLs in OSN. Tweet's aggregated polarity is used to compute the user's reputation. Trust-based entropy is measured to substantiate the authenticity of the tweet. The entire experiment is performed on Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit OSNs. ROLI algorithm produces 91% accuracy, 93% precision, 95% recall, and 94% F1-score over other SNA measures.