Fake news detection team
From urban legend to fake news. A global detector of contemporary falsehoods
Project: Infostrateg (NCBR)
The aim of the project is to make a large-scale computer-assisted content analysis of Polish writing, with particular emphasis on Internet content. The analysis will concern the occurrence of Fake News (hereafter: FN) and sensationalist motifs in the surveyed corpus of texts, and will result in the creation of a catalog and documentation that will serve as tools for the study of those aspects of the Polish Infosphere that relate to circulating narratives of a sensationalist (gossip, rumor, legend) or intentionally deceitful nature. The perception and interpretation of the world through sensational categories (e.g., conspiracy, anomaly, secret connection, omen/miraculous sign, action of “aliens” or supernatural forces, plague, decline of customs) is a significant and poorly recognized element of traditional thinking, which has been present in our culture for centuries and plays an important and constant role in many areas of social life. The study of this strand of media (information) will therefore at the same time contribute to a better understanding of some of the phenomena of modernity.
It’s easier to fool people, than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.
The project will result in a system (DETECTOR) that will provide a modern tool for further empirical research into the significance of FN. Both the catalog and the computer software produced under the project will significantly enrich the set of research tools of various disciplines in the humanities. The project is implemented with the use of the latest (state-of-the-art) machine learning methods, such as neural networks, Natural Language Inference techniques, REALM-type models, etc.
Team leader
prof
Piotr Wierzchoń
Team members
M.Sc.
Piotr Jabłoński