From Senseless Swarms to Smart Mobs: Tuning Networks for Prosocial Behaviour

Abstract: Social media have been seen to accelerate the spread of negative content such as disinformation and hate speech, often unleashing reckless herd mentality within networks, further aggravated by malicious entities using bots for amplification. So far, the response to this emerging global crisis has centred around social media platform companies making reactive moves that appear to have greater symbolic value than practical utility. These include taking down patently objectionable content or manually deactivating the accounts of bad actors, while leaving vast troves of negative content to circulate and perpetuate within social networks. Governments worldwide have thus sought to intervene using regulatory tools, with countries such as France, Germany and Singapore introducing laws to compel technology companies to take down or correct erroneous and harmful content. However, the relentless pace of technological progress enfeebles regulatory measures that seem fated for obsolescence.