Logically and IIIT-Delhi extend partnership to counter misinformation and hate speech

May 9, 2022

Logically and Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology  Delhi (IIIT-Delhi), a leading research-orientated state university with a specialization in computer science, have extended their existing research partnership on combating online harms until 2026.

As part of the partnership, the two organisations will conduct further research on developing advanced technologies to counter hate speech and online mis- and disinformation. The partnership will also enhance multimedia analytical capabilities, including video, images and memes, as well as build multilingual models that understand regional languages in India.

Since 2020, Logically and the Laboratory for Computational Social Systems (LCS2) at IIIT-Delhi have been collaborating on fundamental technical research on understanding the provenance, motivations, and psychology of online misinformation. Over the last two years, the research focused on how society can identify and impede online misinformation and its spread.

Research from the first two years of collaboration have already been converted into multilingual capabilities that have been deployed in Logically’s flagship threat intelligence platform – Logically Intelligence - to detect and analyse mis- and disinformation and online harms more quickly. In 2021, outputs from the research secured recognition in prestigious academic conferences such as SIGKDD in Singapore and IEEE ICDM in Auckland.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr Anil Bandhakavi, Head of Data Science at Logically, said:

We are thrilled with the impact from the first two years of our research collaboration with IIIT-Delhi. As expected, we have been able to show quantifiable results in the space of research to curb hate speech and mis/disinformation. Given the success from the first phase of our collaboration, we are excited to further strengthen our partnership with a prestigious institution like IIIT-Delhi.”

Dr Tanmoy Chakraborty, Associate Professor, Director of Laboratory for Computational Social Systems, and the head of the Center for AI at IIIT-Delhi, said:

We look forward to building further on our research successes and growing our research teams in the next phase of the collaboration. Our research capabilities and Logically’s industry experience will enable us to develop better insights in understanding online harm and its prevention across languages and various forms of media”.

Combining IIIT-Delhi’s AI research capabilities and Logically’s industry-leading technological expertise, the research partnership has succeeded in designing predictive models to forecast the likelihood of a social media post attracting harmful content over social media discourse, enabling content moderators to more quickly identify social media posts that may invite online harm. Additionally, to further understand and identify community level threats, the teams modelled how hateful online echo chambers are formed, observing that a small number of echo chambers are responsible for the spread of the majority of harmful online content.

About Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi

Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-Delhi) was created as a state university by an act of the Delhi Government in 2008, empowering it to do research and grant academic degrees. With world-class faculty and an environment that endeavours to nurture state-of-the-art research and innovation and enables entrepreneurial activities that bring the gains of deep-tech to the society at large, IIIT-Delhi has grown to become one of the most promising young institutions in India. It has been accorded 12-B status by the University Grants Commission. It is ranked #5 among all universities in India in the Times Higher Education world university rankings 2022 and also among all technical schools (Government and Private) in India in the latest Dataquest T-School rankings 2022. The institute was awarded “Excellence in Faculty” in the 7th Higher Education Excellence Awards 2021 by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

IIIT-Delhi hosts the academic departments of Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computational Biology, Human Centered Design, Mathematics, and Social Sciences & Humanities. In addition, there are 8 research centres spanning across the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Design and New Media, Technology in Policing, Human-Centered Design, Light Fidelity, Sustainable Mobility, Healthcare and DataKart Centre of Excellence, engaged in high-quality research and development activities. IIITD also houses an Incubation Centre (IIITDIC) and a Technology Innovation Hub (TiH).

LCS2 is one of the leading labs at IIIT-Delhi that broadly focuses on Social Network Analysis and Natural Language Processing with the prime goal to develop machine learning models for trust, cybersafety, and cyberdeception.