Shockwaves and turbulence across social media

TL;DR

This paper develops a novel theoretical framework inspired by fluid physics to understand the dynamics of hate and extremism spread in online communities, explaining sudden activity surges and potential control methods.

Contribution

It introduces a first-principles theory modeling online community dynamics with a generalized nonlinear fluid physics approach, explaining shockwave-like activity surges.

Findings

Shockwave solutions explain sudden activity surges.

The theory predicts how activity can be delayed or prevented.

Applicability extends to blockchain and Metaverse ecosystems.

Abstract

Online communities featuring 'anti-X' hate and extremism, somehow thrive online despite moderator pressure. We present a first-principles theory of their dynamics, which accounts for the fact that the online population comprises diverse individuals and evolves in time. The resulting equation represents a novel generalization of nonlinear fluid physics and explains the observed behavior across scales. Its shockwave-like solutions explain how, why and when such activity rises from 'out-of-nowhere', and show how it can be delayed, re-shaped and even prevented by adjusting the online collective chemistry. This theory and findings should also be applicable to anti-X activity in next-generation ecosystems featuring blockchain platforms and Metaverses.