Aborting a Message Flowing through Social Communities

Consider the scenario where information is introduced into a network, advising recipients to take an action. If at a later time, the information is found to be inaccurate and the action is unnecessary, it becomes necessary to stop the information from spreading and to prevent actors from taking the action. We investigate the concept of introducing counter messages into a network to interfere with an ongoing diffusion and stop the action that was prescribed by the previous messages. These counter messages are diffused and may spread through the network based on the recipient's evaluation of the information. We present a framework for modeling the spread of actionable information and information retraction. Using the framework, we perform experiments to investigate strategies for broadcasting the counter message, in particular, how to identify individuals that should receive the counter message directly from the information source. There is a trade off between a fast effective spread of actionable information and the ability to retract the information. Findings also suggest that alternate strategies will have to be explored that incorporate group structures and the distribution of trust in designing a useful abort mechanism.