A study on the competitive dissemination of disinformation and knowledge on social media

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore the evolutionary path and stable strategy for the competitive dissemination between disinformation and knowledge on social media to provide effective solutions to curb the dissemination of disinformation and promote the spread of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach - Based on the social capital (SC) theory, the benefit matrix is constructed and an evolutional game model is established in this paper. Through model solving and Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) simulation, the factors that influence disinformation-believing users (DUs) and knowledge-believing users (KUs) to choose different strategies are analyzed. Findings - The initial dissemination willingness, the disinformation infection probability, the knowledge infection probability and the knowledge penetration probability are proved to be crucial factors influencing the game equilibrium in the competitive dissemination process of disinformation and knowledge. Moreover, some countermeasures and recommendations for the governance of disinformation are proposed. Originality/value - Currently most research interest lies in the disinformation dissemination model but ignores the interaction between disinformation and knowledge in the diffusion process. This study reveals the dynamic mechanism of social media users disseminating disinformation and knowledge and is expected to promote the formation of cleaner cyberspace.