2

Echo chamber formation sharpened by priority users

On social media platforms, priority users (e.g., verified profiles on X) are users whose posts are promoted by recommendation algorithms. However, their influence on opinion dynamics, in particular polarization and echo chamber formation, is not well …

Diffusion approximation of a network model of meme popularity

Models of meme propagation on social networks, in which memes compete for limited user attention, can successfully reproduce the heavy-tailed popularity distributions observed in online settings. While system-wide popularity distributions have been …

An actor-based approach to understanding radical right viral tweets in the UK

Radical right actors routinely use social media to spread highly divisive, disruptive, and anti-democratic messages. Assessing and countering such content is crucial for ensuring that online spaces can be open, accessible, and constructive. However, …

Hierarchical route to the emergence of leader nodes in real-world networks

A large number of complex systems, naturally emerging in various domains, are well described by directed networks, resulting in numerous interesting features that are absent from their undirected counterparts. Among these properties is a strong …

Assessing police topological efficiency in a major sting operation on the dark web

The networked nature of criminals using the dark web is poorly understood and infrequently studied, mostly due to a lack of data. Rarer still are studies on the topological effectiveness of police interventions. Between 2014 and 2016, the Brazilian …