Misinformation spread online can be modeled as an epidemic using the SIR model

Evidence

To understand how information diffuses, Walter and his team borrowed a model from epidemiology that is used to model the spread of a virus. In the so-called ‘SIR’ (susceptible-infection-recovered) model someone can take on one of three potential states: you are either unaware of (mis) information circulating online (and thus ‘susceptible’); you are aware and actively spreading (mis)information (‘infectious’); or you are in a recovered state where you are still aware of the (informational) virus but are no longer spreading it. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 445

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the SIR epidemiological model applied to information diffusion.
• XREF: Connects to broader literature on misinformation-as-contagion and network epidemiology, e.g. work on virality and rumor propagation. — connects to: Epidemiological models can study the spread of misinformation online. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 342; Inoculation can spread socially like herd immunity against misinformation — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 989; Misinformation spreads like a virus with no physical contact required — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 23 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Misinformation spreads like a virus with no physical contact required #corroborates (0.95) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 23
• Inoculation can spread socially like herd immunity against misinformation #expands (0.90) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 989
• Misinformation hijacks cognitive machinery and resists correction like a virus #expands (0.85) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 22