K. (Kun) He, PhD

Visual analysis of dis/misinformation and hateful meme (DSSC XS package)

The widespread dissemination of mis/disinformation and hate speech through digital media has worsened the already uncertain and turbulent state of the world, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war. Although extensive research has been conducted to detect and analyze text-based mis/disinformation, there is a lack of research on the spread and evolution of visual mis/disinformation and hateful memes. Compared to textual mis/disinformation, visual mis/disinformation is more effective in evoking emotions and influencing people's attitudes, which further fuels social division and polarization. This project aims to address this gap by analyzing the diffusion and evolution of visual mis/disinformation and hateful memes on digital platforms, such as 4chan and Twitter. The project will employ various approaches that combine human expert knowledge with the processing power of computers, utilizing supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms.