From graphons to real-world networks: kinetic opinion dynamics under selective media influence

Abstract

We propose a kinetic model of opinion dynamics under selective media influence on both graphon-based and real-world networks. The media action, inspired by Hallin's theory of spheres, is incorporated through a model predictive control strategy designed to steer agents' opinions toward a desired target opinion. For the resulting Boltzmann-type description, we analyse the evolution of the moments and, in the quasi-invariant interaction limit, derive a Fokker--Planck-type equation together with a characterisation of its stationary states. We also prove exponential convergence to equilibrium in the Fourier metric. Numerical experiments are performed on networks generated by a Gaussian graphon and on real-world, single-issue Twitter networks, allowing us to investigate the role of control and interaction parameters, as well as the impact of the subset of agents subject to media influence. Using real-world social networks data to initialise opinions and infer the interaction structure, we then compare the dynamics obtained on the original networks with those produced by Gaussian graphons fitted to their adjacency matrices, thereby assessing the descriptive power of the graphon approach for real-world opinion dynamics.