Are These Comments Triggering? Predicting Triggers of Toxicity in Online Discussions

Hind Almerekhi, Haewoon Kwak, Joni Salminen, Bernard J. Jansen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the causes or triggers of toxicity adds a new dimension to the prevention of toxic behavior in online discussions. In this research, we define toxicity triggers in online discussions as a non-toxic comment that lead to toxic replies. Then, we build a neural network-based prediction model for toxicity trigger. The prediction model incorporates text-based features and derived features from previous studies that pertain to shifts in sentiment, topic flow, and discussion context. Our findings show that triggers of toxicity contain identifiable features and that incorporating shift features with the discussion context can be detected with a ROC-AUC score of 0.87. We discuss implications for online communities and also possible further analysis of online toxicity and its root causes.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Web Conference 2020 - Proceedings of the World Wide Web Conference, WWW 2020
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages3033-3040
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781450370233
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Apr 2020
Event29th International World Wide Web Conference, WWW 2020 - Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China
Duration: 20 Apr 202024 Apr 2020

Publication series

NameThe Web Conference 2020 - Proceedings of the World Wide Web Conference, WWW 2020

Conference

Conference29th International World Wide Web Conference, WWW 2020
Country/TerritoryTaiwan, Province of China
CityTaipei
Period20/04/2024/04/20

Keywords

  • Reddit
  • neural networks
  • online discussion
  • toxicity
  • trigger detection

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