Non-Consensus Opinion Model with Byzantine Nodes

Abstract

pinion dynamics models study how the interaction among people influences the opinion formation process. In most opinion dynamics models, only one opinion can exist in the steady state, which is different from the real-life opinion formation process. In 2009, Shao et at. introduced a Non-Consensus Opinion (NCO) model, which allows different opinions to coexist in the steady state. This paper extends the NCO model by introducing a special type of nodes, namely Byzantine nodes, to play the role of dishonest people. We perform simulations on three different network models: small-scale graphs, Erdős-Rényi random graphs and scale-free networks. We find a new steady state for the NCO model: the cyclic steady state. The cyclic behavior of the NCO and Byzantine NCO model is discussed, including a method to generate networks with extremely long cycle lengths. Other properties of the Byzantine NCO model, such as the probability of cyclic behavior and the final opinion distribution, are also studied. We find that the introduction of Byzantine nodes generally steers towards a more balanced steady state and increases the probability of cyclic behavior. The latter is particularly problematic in communication systems, where the large cycle lengths may cause a very slow consensus process and thus stalling future communications.