Radicalized beliefs, such as those tied to QAnon, Russiagate, and other political conspiracy theories, can lead some individuals and groups to engage in violent behavior, as evidenced in recent months. Understanding the mechanisms by which such beliefs are accepted, spread, and intensified is critical for any attempt to mitigate radicalization and avoid increased political polarization. This article presents and agent-based model of a social media network that enables investigation of the effects of censorship on the amount of dissenting information to which agents become exposed and the certainty of their radicalized views. The model explores two forms of censorship: 1) decentralized censorship-in which individuals can choose to break an online social network tie (unfriend or unfollow) with another individual who transmits conflicting beliefs and 2) centralized censorship-in which a single authority can ban an individual from the social media network for spreading a certain type of belief. This model suggests that both forms of censorship increase certainty in radicalized views by decreasing the amount of dissent to which an agent is exposed, but centralized "banning" of individuals has the strongest effect on radicalization.
翻译:激进的信仰,例如与QAnon、Russagate和其他政治阴谋理论相联系的信仰,可以导致某些个人和团体参与暴力行为,近几个月来就证明了这一点。 理解接受、传播和强化这种信仰的机制对于减轻激进化和避免加剧政治两极分化的任何尝试都至关重要。 文章提出并以代理人为基础的社交媒体网络模式,以便调查审查对代理人暴露的异见信息数量及其激进观点的确定性的影响。 该模式探讨两种形式的审查:(1) 分散审查制度,其中个人可以选择打破与传播自相矛盾的信仰的另一个人之间的在线社会网络联系(不友好或不顺从 ) ;(2) 集中审查制度,其中单一的当局可以禁止某一社会媒体网络的个人传播某种信仰。这一模式表明,两种形式的审查制度通过减少代理人暴露的异见而集中的“禁止”个人对激进观点的确定性,从而增加激进观点的确定性,但集中的“禁止”对个人的激进性影响最大。