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Built at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the RIO program automatically detects and analyzes social media accounts that spread disinformation across a network, reports Anne McGovern, Science Writer & Editor - Lincoln Laboratory.
Disinformation campaigns are not new — think of wartime propaganda
used to sway public opinion against an enemy. What is new, however, is
the use of the internet and social media to spread these campaigns. The
spread of disinformation via social media has the power to change
elections, strengthen conspiracy theories, and sow discord.
Photo: MIT News
Steven Smith, a staff member from MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Artificial Intelligence Software Architectures and Algorithms Group, is part of a team that set out to better understand these campaigns by launching the Reconnaissance of Influence Operations (RIO) program. Their goal was to create a system that would automatically detect disinformation narratives as well as those individuals who are spreading the narratives within social media networks. Earlier this year, the team published a paper on their work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and they received an R&D 100 award last fall...
The team envisions RIO being used by both government and industry as well as beyond social media and in the realm of traditional media such as newspapers and television. Currently, they are working with West Point student Joseph Schlessinger, who is also a graduate student at MIT and a military fellow at Lincoln Laboratory, to understand how narratives spread across European media outlets. A new follow-on program is also underway to dive into the cognitive aspects of influence operations and how individual attitudes and behaviors are affected by disinformation.
“Defending against disinformation is not only a matter of national security, but also about protecting democracy,” says Kao.
Source: MIT News
