Researchers develop polygraph for social networks

An international group of researchers is developing a system which, they say, will be able to automatically analyze whether information disclosed on social networks is true or false. All in real time.

“Social media provide useful information, the problem is that everything happens so fast so that we can not separate truth from falsehood quickly,” says the researcher Bontcheva Kalina, University of Sheffield, who leads the project.

According to a statement released by the English university, the lie detector should verify rumors that spread through the network in order to help “journalists, governments, emergency services, health agencies and the private sector to act more efficiently.”

The researchers intend to create a system that automatically categorize sources of information to evaluate their credibility as journalists, experts and potential witnesses.

It should also analyze the history and context of a rumble, to learn, for example, if no fake accounts were created on Twitter so that inaccurate information be disseminated.

The project, which should take three years to complete and relies on the financial support of the European Union, is a collaboration between five universities, three European companies and one company in Kenya.