Influence Minimization via Blocking Strategies

We study the influence minimization problem: given a graph G and a seed set S , blocking at most b nodes or b edges such that the influence spread of seed set is minimized. This is a pivotal yet underexplored aspect of network analytics, which can limit the spread of undesirable phenomena in networks, such as misinformation and epidemics. Given the inherent NP-hardness of the problem under the independent cascade and linear threshold models, previous studies have employed greedy algorithms and Monte Carlo Simulations for its resolution. However, existing techniques become cost-prohibitive when applied to large networks due to the necessity of enumerating all the candidate blockers and computing the decrease in expected spread from blocking each of them. This significantly restricts the practicality and effectiveness of existing methods, especially when prompt decision making is crucial. In this paper, we propose the AdvancedGreedy algorithm, which utilizes a novel graph sampling technique that incorporates the dominator tree structure. We find that AdvancedGreedy can achieve a ( 1 − 1 / e − ϵ ) -approximation in the problem under the linear threshold model. For the problem under the independent cascade model, we further propose a novel heuristic algorithm GreedyReplace, based on identifying the relationships among candidate blockers. Experimental evaluations on real-life networks reveal that our proposed algorithms exhibit a significant enhancement in efficiency, surpassing the state-of-the-art algorithm by three orders of magnitude while achieving high effectiveness.