What topics arouse the most hate on social networks? A UNIR online tool responds – Logroño

2023-10-12 04:28:33

The International University of La Rioja (UNIR) launches the first scientific platform that measures the presence of hate expressions in digital news media in Spain, thanks to research funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (R&D&I Projects – «Knowledge Generation» 2019-2020) and Innovation.

The multidisciplinary team of academics from different universities that participates in this UNIR project has developed a first version of the Hate Monitor, which It is expected to evolve until it is possible to identify, in the digital media environment, expressions of hate according to type and intensity, whether generated by users of social networks or from web portals.

The researchers of this project, called ‘Hatemedia’, analyzed more than one million news messages and comments published in Spanish digital news media.

The first result was the creation of a free-access database in Spanish, which is the most extensive to date, made up so far of 7,200 simple and compound terms, associated with expressions of hate.

This tool will facilitate the subsequent advancement of analyzes in the Spanish-speaking digital communication scenario.

Currently, the Hate Monitor shows the presence of this type of expression in Spanish digital news media, through an algorithm that reaches a level of accuracy of 90%.

There is no doubt that the anonymity and immunity offered by social networks have favored an increase in hate speech.

There are many examples of bad practices every day and this is certainly a problem. The media play a fundamental role, since we act as speakers, but all responsibility cannot be transferred to the media because many times we do not have the necessary tools to confront the hate speech that is generated.

Aware of this reality, the International University of La Rioja has launched an online tool.A Hate Monitor that allows you to identify expressions of hate, according to types and intensities, in the digital versions of the media.

Elías Said, Director of the Master’s Degree in Inclusive and Intercultural Education and co-director of the project, resolves some of the most important questions in COPE: How hateful are we Spaniards towards other countries? What topics arouse the most hate on social networks? What is the objective of this tool? What does it consist of? What is innovative about it?