Frameworks, Modeling and Simulations of Misinformation and Disinformation: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract: The prevalence of misinformation and disinformation poses a significant challenge in today's digital landscape. That is why several methods and tools are proposed to analyze and understand these phenomena from a scientific perspective. To assess how the mis/disinformation is being conceptualized and evaluated in the literature, this paper surveys the existing frameworks, models and simulations of mis/disinformation dynamics by performing a systematic literature review up to 2023. After applying the PRISMA methodology, 57 research papers are inspected to determine (1) the terminology and definitions of mis/disinformation, (2) the methods used to represent mis/disinformation, (3) the primary purpose beyond modeling and simulating mis/disinformation, (4) the context where the mis/disinformation is studied, and (5) the validation of the proposed methods for understanding mis/disinformation. The main findings reveal a consistent essence definition of misinformation and disinformation across studies, with intent as the key distinguishing factor. Research predominantly uses social frameworks, epidemiological models, and belief updating simulations. These studies aim to estimate the effectiveness of mis/disinformation, primarily in health and politics. The preferred validation strategy is to compare methods with real-world data and statistics. Finally, this paper identifies current trends and open challenges in the mis/disinformation research field, providing recommendations for future work agenda.