Cost-Efficient Strategies for Restraining Rumor Spreading in Mobile Social Networks

With the popularity of mobile devices, mobile social networks (MSNs) have become an important platform for information dissemination. However, the spread of rumors in MSNs present a massive social threat. Currently, there are two kinds of methods to address this: blocking rumors at influential users and spreading truth to clarify rumors. However, most existing works either overlook the cost of various methods or only consider different methods individually. This paper proposes a heterogeneous-network-based epidemic model that incorporates the two kinds of methods to describe rumor spreading in MSNs. Moreover, two cost-efficient strategies are designed to restrain rumors. The first strategy is the real-time optimization strategy that minimizes the rumor-restraining cost by optimally combining various rumor-restraining methods such that a rumor can be extinct within an expected time period. The second strategy is the pulse spreading truth and continuous blocking rumor strategy that restrains rumor spreading through spreading truth periodically. The two strategies can restrain rumors in a continuous or periodical manner and guarantee cost efficiency. The experiments toward the Digg2009 data set demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and the efficiency of the two strategies.