Stiffness Analysis for the Prediction of Fake News through Online Digital Networks in India

Abstract

Social networks have had a significant impact on people's personal and professional life all around the world. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the use of digital media among people, fake news and reviews have had a stronger impact on society in recent years. This study demonstrates how the stiffness index may be used to model the spread of fake news in Indian states. We demonstrate that the speed at which fake news circulates through online social networks increases with a stiffness index. We conducted a stiffness analysis for all Indian states to assess the spread of fake information in each Indian state. The stiffness analysis of the conventional SIR model, one of the widely used approaches to describe the propagation of rumors in social networks, serves as an explanation and illustration of our proposition. The rise in fake news in our society is also justified by a comparison of the stiffness index for India before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. The study provides governments and policymakers with a more comprehensive understanding of the value of early intervention to combat the spread of false information via digital media.