The Language of Influence: Sentiment, Emotion, and Hate Speech in State Sponsored Influence Operations

Authors:
  • ASAshfaq Ali Shafin
    Ashfaq Ali Shafin
  • KAKhandaker Mamun Ahmed
    Khandaker Mamun Ahmed
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Abstract
State-sponsored influence operations (SIOs) on social media have become an instrumental tool for manipulating public opinion and spreading unverified information. This study analyzes the sentiment, emotion, and abusive speech in tweets circulated by influence campaigns originating from three distinct countries: China, Iran, and Russia. We examined 1.5 million tweets to uncover patterns in the content of the influence operations using the dataset provided by Twitter. Our findings reveal distinct patterns of sentiment, emotion, and abusive nature in different SIOs. Our experimental result shows that Russian influence operations predominantly employ negative sentiment and toxic language to polarize audiences, Iranian operations balance negative and positive tones to provoke hostility while fostering support, and Chinese campaigns focus on positive messaging to promote favorable narratives.

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