SIP Model and Bifurcation Analysis for Spread of Misinformation in Online Social Networks

The spreading of misinformation in Online Social Networks (OSNs) is quite similar to the spreading of infection in biological diseases. As the biological virus spreads and makes one infected as well as those who come into contact with the infected person, the nature and behavior of the spread of misinformation in an online social network is similar. So in order to understand the functioning of misinformation and to control over epidemic outbreak of misinformation in OSNs, epidemic models can be quite handy. The introduction of Bifurcation theory in the epidemic model explains the qualitative behavior of the system with changes in parameters. In this paper, we have introduced the Susceptible, Infectious, and Protected (SIP) model with Bifurcation for the propagation of misinformation in OSNs. Here Bifurcation is due to the limited number of users who are ready to adopt the Security and Privacy Policies of Social Network Sites. We define the threshold number for the system of equations and explain the stability of an Infection Free Equilibrium (IFE), representing the absence of misinformation. We have discussed about the endemic equilibrium point and bifurcation conditions along with its nature and stability at those points. Also, we have shown global stability at the endemic Equilibrium of the system. Finally, numerical simulation has been used to show the existence of bifurcation in the system with a change in the value of parameters.