Preserving Integrity in Online Social Networks

TL;DR

This paper surveys methods for maintaining integrity in online social networks, focusing on practical techniques to combat misinformation, hate speech, and illegal activities, with insights from Facebook's experience.

Contribution

It identifies key aspects of the social-media ecosystem related to integrity violations and highlights practical techniques and research directions for safeguarding online platforms.

Findings

Practical techniques proven effective in practice.

Key ecosystem components linked to various violations.

Research areas for improving online social network integrity.

Abstract

Online social networks provide a platform for sharing information and free expression. However, these networks are also used for malicious purposes, such as distributing misinformation and hate speech, selling illegal drugs, and coordinating sex trafficking or child exploitation. This paper surveys the state of the art in keeping online platforms and their users safe from such harm, also known as the problem of preserving integrity. This survey comes from the perspective of having to combat a broad spectrum of integrity violations at Facebook. We highlight the techniques that have been proven useful in practice and that deserve additional attention from the academic community. Instead of discussing the many individual violation types, we identify key aspects of the social-media eco-system, each of which is common to a wide variety violation types. Furthermore, each of these components represents an area for research and development, and the innovations that are found can be applied widely.