Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Fake news detection in social networks using geometric deep learning

Objective

In the past decade, social media have become one of the main sources of news for people around the world. Yet, it comes with the danger of exposure to intentionally false information. The extensive spread of fake news has recently become a centerpiece of controversy following the highly debated elections of President Donald Trump and the Brexit vote. It is alleged that the outcome of these votes resulted from the public opinion manipulation by a massive injection of fake news, possibly sponsored by hostile foreign governments, constituting perhaps one of the most serious and unprecedented threats to the modern democracies.

The ambition of GoodNews is to build the technological capability for algorithmic fake news detection in social media using a novel paradigm. Instead of following the traditional approach of analyzing the news content, we will analyze the news spreading patterns in social networks. The algorithmic core of GoodNews is based on a novel class of geometric deep learning algorithms developed in the ERC project LEMAN (Learning on Manifolds and Graphs). Our research group was among the first in the world to propose, implement, and patent generalizations of popular convolutional neural network architectures to graph-structured data such as social networks, allowing to do deep learning on graphs. The ability to learn fake news spread patterns on social networks will provide the needed breakthrough in the task of automated fake news detection.

GoodNews will convert the geometric deep learning technology into a commercial application of fake news detection in social media. The focus of the project will be three-fold: developing a demo system for fake news detection with real data from social media; verifying and solidifying our IP portfolio and its licensing terms; analyzing the market and coming up with a financeable business plan. We target establishing a company at the end of the project and attracting investment to develop a commercial-grade product.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2018-PoC

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

UNIVERSITA DELLA SVIZZERA ITALIANA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 150 000,00
Address
VIA GIUSEPPE BUFFI 13
6900 Lugano
Switzerland

See on map

Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Ticino Ticino
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 150 000,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0