Grey Zone Theories and Models: Forensic Analysis and Real-time Detection of Disinformation Campaigns

Project Member(s): Rizoiu, M.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Defence Science and Technology Group of the Department of Defence
Defence Science and Technology Group of the Department of Defence

Start year: 2021

Summary: This project addresses the problem of detecting the propagation of disinformation in social media, with two intended applications: online discussions around COVID-19 and Australian politics on Twitter (#auspol). This project will develop novel techniques for disinformation detection, which will simultaneously account for three facets of online discussions: 1) the content of comments and tweets, 2) the structure of the social network involving the discussing actors, and 3) the spread processes (diffusions) of the different disinformation themes which occur on top of the social network.

Publications:

Ram, R & Rizoiu, M-A 2023, 'Can ideology-detecting algorithms catch online extremism before it takes hold?', The Conversation.

Yuan, L & Rizoiu, M-A 2022, 'Detect Hate Speech in Unseen Domains using Multi-Task Learning: A Case Study of Political Public Figures'.

Kong, Q, Calderon, P, Ram, R, Boichak, O & Rizoiu, M-A 1970, 'Interval-censored Transformer Hawkes: Detecting Information Operations using the Reaction of Social Systems', Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2023 (WWW '23), May 1--5, 2023, Austin, TX, USA.
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Ram, R & Rizoiu, M-A 1970, 'Data-driven ideology detection: a case study of far-right extremist', Defence Human Sciences Symposium, Defence Human Sciences Symposium, Sydney, Australia.

Rizoiu, M-A, Willingham, T & Kernot, D 1970, 'Grey Zone activity: measuring the resilience of social systems to influence operations', Australian Defence Science, Technology and Research Summit, Australian Defence Science, Technology and Research Summit, Sydney.

Kong, Q, Booth, E, Bailo, F, Johns, A & Rizoiu, M-A 1970, 'Slipping to the Extreme: A Mixed Method to Explain How Extreme Opinions Infiltrate Online Discussions', Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, pp. 524-535.

Largeron, C, Mardale, A & Rizoiu, M-A 1970, 'Linking the Dynamics of User Stance to the Structure of Online Discussions', In Symposium on Intelligent Data Analysis (IDA'21), pp. 275-286. 2021.
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Dawson, N, Molitorisz, S, Rizoiu, M-A & Fray, P 2020, 'Layoffs, Inequity and COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study of the Journalism Jobs Crisis in Australia from 2012 to 2020', Journalism, p. 146488492199628. 2021, pp. 146488492199628-146488492199628.
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McCarthy, PX, Gong, X, Eghbal, S, Falster, DS & Rizoiu, M-A 2020, 'Evolution of diversity and dominance of companies in online activity', PLOS ONE, 16(4), e0249993, 2021.
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Kong, Q, Ram, R & Rizoiu, M-A 1970, 'Evently: Modeling and Analyzing Reshare Cascades with Hawkes Processes', Proceedings of the 14th ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, 2021.
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Ram, R, Kong, Q & Rizoiu, M-A 1970, 'Birdspotter: A Tool for Analyzing and Labeling Twitter Users', In Proceedings of the 14th ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM'21), pp. 918-921. New York, NY, USA: ACM. 2021, WSDM '21: The Fourteenth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, ACM, online.
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Ram, R & Rizoiu, M-A, 'Empirically measuring online social influence', EPJ Data Science, vol. 13, no. 1.
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FOR Codes: Emerging Defence Technologies, Expanding Knowledge in the Information and Computing Sciences, The Media, Internet Broadcasting, Pattern Recognition and Data Mining, Simulation and Modelling, Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing not elsewhere classified, National Security, Computer vision and multimedia computation, Data management and data science, Machine learning, Internet, digital and social media, Expanding knowledge in language, communication and culture

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.