We explore a method to influence or even control the diversity of opinions within a polarised social group. We leverage the voter model in which users hold binary opinions and repeatedly update their beliefs based on others they connect with. Stubborn agents who never change their minds ("zealots") are also disseminated through the network, which is modelled by a connected graph. Building on earlier results, we provide a closed-form expression for the average opinion of the group at equilibrium. This leads us to a strategy to inject zealots into a polarised network in order to shift the average opinion towards any target value. We account for the possible presence of a backfire effect, which may lead the group to react negatively and reinforce its level of polarisation in response. Our results are supported by numerical experiments on synthetic data.

翻译：我们探索一种在两极化的社会群体中影响甚至控制不同意见的方法。 我们利用选民模式,让用户持有二元意见,并反复更新他们基于与他们有联系的他人的信仰。 网络中还传播了从未改变想法的僵化分子(“扎洛特人”),这个网络以一个链接的图表为模型。 以先前的结果为基础,我们为该群体在平衡时的平均意见提供了一个封闭式表达方式。 这导致我们形成一种策略,将狂热分子注入一个两极化的网络,以便将平均意见转向任何目标值。 我们考虑到可能存在反火效应,这可能导致该群体做出消极反应,并强化其极化反应水平。 我们的结果得到合成数据数字实验的支持。