Lviv Professor Uses IEEE DataPort to Upload Social Media Datasets Identifying Propaganda

Propaganda and fake news on the war in Ukraine

By: Solomiia Fedushko, PhD

Solomiia Fedushko, an associate professor at Lviv Polytechnic National University in Ukraine, used IEEE DataPort to share social media data on Russian propaganda and fake news on social media platforms. Her dataset titled “Propaganda and Fake News on the War in Ukraine” won IEEE DataPort’s data upload contest in the “other” category.

About the Dataset

Solomiia explained the dataset examines manipulation and propaganda of information during the Russian-Ukrainian war. The dataset contains text posts from social media networks popular among Russian-speaking people. The information was collected using predefined keywords such as “war,” “special military operation” and so on. Her team detected propaganda and fake news after thoroughly assessing and analyzing the dataset. Feature engineering and text preparation containers extracted results from the dataset.

The goal of collecting and analyzing this data was to detect propaganda and fake information, identify primary sources, and note user reactions.

Plans for the Future

Solomiia said this dataset will be extremely helpful in the future for scientists who study propaganda and fake news. This dataset can be used to track information warfare, assess the socio-political climate, and identify the main characteristics of the most effective propaganda.

Solomiia and her team propose creating a conversational AI to detect and refute posts containing propaganda and encourage researchers to join the study. Analyzing these problems will make it possible to determine how the spread of fake news and propaganda affects communities. Furthermore, Solomiia plans to publish the results of her investigation in an authoritative journal. The dataset is intended for the public, but she hopes science specialists, cyber security experts, military analysts, data analysts, behavioral scientists, and researchers in social networking will use the datasets in their work.

Benefits of the IEEE DataPort Platform

Solomiia said she chose to use IEEE DataPort because it was easy to use, highly secure, ranked highly among experienced scientists all over the world, and gave her exposure to millions of researchers, engineers, and scientists around the world.

“The IEEE DataPort platform has a user-friendly design, and all portal functionality is intuitively accessible,” said Solomiia.

She said IEEE DataPort allowed her to disseminate her research successfully and provided her the ability to consolidate, store, and manage her research data in one secure location. She also used IEEE DataPort so she could receive feedback, advice, and reviews.

“It was also equally important for me to join the data community, access other research datasets, and receive information on recent datasets and news regularly.”

See the dataset, learn more about IEEE DataPort, or upload your own research data.