activity
20182026
most citedHate multiverse spreads malicious COVID-19 content online beyond individual platform control

36 citations · 50 across the 14 of their papers we have counts for

collaborators

14 papers

cs.AI2026

When AI output tips to bad but nobody notices: Legal implications of AI's mistakes

Dylan J. Restrepo, Nicholas J. Restrepo, Frank Y. Huo +1

The adoption of generative AI across commercial and legal professions offers dramatic efficiency gains -- yet for law in particular, it introduces a perilous failure mode in which…

cs.SI2025

Long-term resilience of online battle over vaccines and beyond

Lucia Illari, Nicholas J. Restrepo, Neil F. Johnson

What has been the impact of the enormous amounts of time, effort and money spent promoting pro-vaccine science from pre-COVID-19 to now? We answer this using a unique mapping of on…

physics.soc-ph2025

City riots fed by transnational and trans-topic web-of-influence

Akshay Verma, Richard Sear, Nicholas J. Restrepo +1

The sudden emergence of large-scale riots in otherwise unconnected cities across the UK in summer 2024 came as a shock for both government officials and citizens. Irrespective of t…

cs.SI2023

Complexity of the Online Distrust Ecosystem and its Evolution

Lucia Illari, Nicholas J. Restrepo, Neil F. Johnson

Collective human distrust (and its associated mis-disinformation) is one of the most complex phenomena of our time. e.g. distrust of medical expertise, or climate change science, o…

physics.soc-ph2023

Adaptive link dynamics drive online hate networks and their mainstream influence

Minzhang Zheng, Richard Sear, Lucia Illari +2

Online hate is dynamic, adaptive -- and is now surging armed with AI/GPT tools. Its consequences include personal traumas, child sex abuse and violent mass attacks. Overcoming it w…

physics.soc-ph2023

Rise of post-pandemic resilience across the distrust ecosystem

Lucia Illari, Nicholas J. Restrepo, Neil F. Johnson

Why is distrust (e.g. of medical expertise) now flourishing online despite the surge in mitigation schemes being implemented? We analyze the changing discourse in the Facebook ecos…

physics.soc-ph2021★ 1 cited

Losing the battle over best-science guidance early in a crisis: Covid-19 and beyond

L. Illari, N. Johnson Restrepo, R. Leahy +3

Ensuring widespread public exposure to best-science guidance is crucial in a crisis, e.g. Covid-19, climate change. Mapping the emitter-receiver dynamics of Covid-19 guidance among…

physics.soc-ph2021

Mainstreaming of conspiracy theories and misinformation

N. F. Johnson, N. Velasquez, N. Johnson Restrepo +5

Parents - particularly moms - increasingly consult social media for support when taking decisions about their young children, and likely also when advising other family members suc…

physics.soc-ph2020★ 4 cited

Not sure? Handling hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccines

N. F. Johnson, N. Velasquez, R. Leahy +3

From the moment the first COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, there will need to be a large fraction of the global population ready in line. It is therefore crucial to start managing…

physics.soc-ph2020★ 6 cited

Covid-19 infodemic reveals new tipping point epidemiology and a revised formula

N. F. Johnson, N. Velasquez, O. K. Jha +8

Many governments have managed to control their COVID-19 outbreak with a simple message: keep the effective ' number' to prevent widespread contagion and flatten the curve.…

physics.soc-ph2020★ 1 cited

Hidden order in online extremism and its disruption by nudging collective chemistry

N. F. Johnson, N. Velasquez, P. Manrique +5

We show that the eclectic "Boogaloo" extremist movement that is now rising to prominence in the U.S., has a hidden online mathematical order that is identical to ISIS during its ea…

physics.soc-ph2020★ 36 cited

Hate multiverse spreads malicious COVID-19 content online beyond individual platform control

N. Velásquez, R. Leahy, N. Johnson Restrepo +6

We show that malicious COVID-19 content, including hate speech, disinformation, and misinformation, exploits the multiverse of online hate to spread quickly beyond the control of a…

physics.soc-ph2019★ 1 cited

Health Wars and Beyond: The Rapidly Expanding and Efficient Network Insurgency Interlinking Local and Global Online Crowds of Distrust

N. F. Johnson, N. Velasquez, N. Johnson Restrepo +4

We present preliminary results on the online war surrounding distrust of expertise in medical science -- specifically, the issue of vaccinations. While distrust and misinformation…

physics.soc-ph2018★ 1 cited

Social media cluster dynamics create resilient global hate highways

N. F. Johnson, R. Leahy, N. Johnson Restrepo +3

Online social media allows individuals to cluster around common interests - including hate. We show that tight-knit social clusters interlink to form resilient 'global hate highway…