@inproceedings{ustyianovych-barbosa-2024-instant,
    title = "Instant Messaging Platforms News Multi-Task Classification for Stance, Sentiment, and Discrimination Detection",
    author = "Ustyianovych, Taras  and
      Barbosa, Denilson",
    editor = "Romanyshyn, Mariana  and
      Romanyshyn, Nataliia  and
      Hlybovets, Andrii  and
      Ignatenko, Oleksii",
    booktitle = "Proceedings of the Third Ukrainian Natural Language Processing Workshop (UNLP) @ LREC-COLING 2024",
    month = may,
    year = "2024",
    address = "Torino, Italia",
    publisher = "ELRA and ICCL",
    url = "https://aclanthology.org/2024.unlp-1.5",
    pages = "30--40",
    abstract = "In the digital age, geopolitical events frequently catalyze discussions among global web users. Platforms such as social networks and messaging applications serve as vital means for information spreading and acquisition. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has notably intensified online discourse on the matter, drawing a significant audience eager for real-time updates. This surge in online activity inevitably results in the proliferation of content, some of which may be unreliable or manipulative. Given this context, the identification of such content with information distortion is imperative to mitigate bias and promote fairness. However, this task presents considerable challenges, primarily due to the lack of sophisticated language models capable of understanding the nuances and context of texts in low-resource languages, and the scarcity of well-annotated datasets for training such models. To address these gaps, we introduce the TRWU dataset - a meticulously annotated collection of Telegram news about the Russian war in Ukraine gathered starting from January 1, 2022. This paper outlines our methodology for semantic analysis and classification of these messages, aiming to ascertain their bias. Such an approach enhances our ability to detect manipulative and destructive content. Through descriptive statistical analysis, we explore deviations in message sentiment, stance, and metadata across different types of channels and levels of content creation activity. Our findings indicate a predominance of negative sentiment within the dataset. Additionally, our research elucidates distinct differences in the linguistic choices and phraseology among channels, based on their stance towards the war. This study contributes to the broader effort of understanding the spread and mitigating the impact of biased and manipulative content in digital communications.",
}

In the digital age, geopolitical events frequently catalyze discussions among global web users. Platforms such as social networks and messaging applications serve as vital means for information spreading and acquisition. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has notably intensified online discourse on the matter, drawing a significant audience eager for real-time updates. This surge in online activity inevitably results in the proliferation of content, some of which may be unreliable or manipulative. Given this context, the identification of such content with information distortion is imperative to mitigate bias and promote fairness. However, this task presents considerable challenges, primarily due to the lack of sophisticated language models capable of understanding the nuances and context of texts in low-resource languages, and the scarcity of well-annotated datasets for training such models. To address these gaps, we introduce the TRWU dataset - a meticulously annotated collection of Telegram news about the Russian war in Ukraine gathered starting from January 1, 2022. This paper outlines our methodology for semantic analysis and classification of these messages, aiming to ascertain their bias. Such an approach enhances our ability to detect manipulative and destructive content. Through descriptive statistical analysis, we explore deviations in message sentiment, stance, and metadata across different types of channels and levels of content creation activity. Our findings indicate a predominance of negative sentiment within the dataset. Additionally, our research elucidates distinct differences in the linguistic choices and phraseology among channels, based on their stance towards the war. This study contributes to the broader effort of understanding the spread and mitigating the impact of biased and manipulative content in digital communications.
Ustyianovych, Taras Barbosa, Denilson
Instant Messaging Platforms News Multi-Task Classification for Stance, Sentiment, and Discrimination Detection