Prestige bias drives the viral spread of content reposted by influencers in online communities

Abstract

Abstract Cultural evolution theory suggests that prestige bias-whereby individuals preferentially learn from prestigious figures-has played a key role in human ecological success. However, its impact within online environments remains unclear, particularly with respect to whether reposts by prestigious individuals amplify diffusion more effectively than reposts by noninfluential users. We analyzed over 55 million posts and 520 million reposts on Twitter (currently X) to examine whether users with high influence scores (hg indices) more effectively amplified the reach of others’ content. Our findings indicate that posts shared by influencers are more likely to be further shared than those shared by non-influencers. This effect persisted over time, especially in viral posts. Moreover, a small group of highly influential users accounted for approximately half of the information flow within repost cascades. These findings demonstrate a prestige bias in information diffusion within the digital society, suggesting that cognitive biases shape content spread through reposting.