Expert knowledge for automatic detection of bullies in social networks

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a serious social problem in online environments and social networks. Current approaches to tackle this problem are still inadequate for detecting bullying incidents or to flag bullies. In this study we used a multi-criteria evaluation system to obtain a better understanding of YouTube users? behaviour and their characteristics through expert knowledge. Based on experts? knowledge, the system assigns a score to the users, which represents their level of “bulliness” based on the history of their activities, The scores can be used to discriminate among users with a bullying history and those who were not engaged in hurtful acts. This preventive approach can provide information about users of social networks and can be used to build monitoring tools to aid finding and stopping potential bullies.