CONTROL THEORY APPROACHES TO OPTIMIZE INFORMATION FLOW IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY AND CONFLICTING DATA

Abstract

The rapid spread of inaccurate information through social media has become a major concern in recent years. This paper presents a mathematical model for analyzing the impact of inaccurate information on the spread of accurate information in a network. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of three different strategies of control: media literacy programs and fact-checking and a combination of both. The model is analyzed using the maximum principle of Pontryagin to derive the optimal control strategies for minimizing the spread of inaccurate information while maximizing the spread of accurate information. A numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the control strategies, and statistical analysis is performed to compare the impact of the different control strategies on the spread of information. The results demonstrate that the combination of media literacy programs and fact-checking is the most effective strategy for increasing the spread of accurate information and reducing the spread of inaccurate information. These findings have important implications for the design of effective strategies to combat the spread of misinformation and promote the spread of accurate information in a network.