United States

The widespread spread of fake news on social media poses significant challenges, particularly for low-resource languages like Malayalam. The accessibility of social platforms accelerates misinformation, leading to societal polarization and poor decision-making. Detecting fake news in Malayalam is complex due to its linguistic diversity, code-mixing, and dialectal variations, compounded by the lack of large labeled datasets and tailored models. To address these, we developed a fine-tuned transformer-based model for binary and multiclass fake news detection. The binary classifier achieved a macro F1 score of 0.814, while the multiclass model, using multimodal embeddings, achieved a score of 0.1978. Our system ranked 14th and 11th in the shared task competition, highlighting the need for specialized techniques in underrepresented languages. Our full experimental codebase is publicly available at: ciol-researchlab/NAACL25-Akatsuki-Fake-News-Detection.

NAACL 2025

Akatsuki-CIOL@DravidianLangTech 2025: Ensemble-Based Approach Using Pre-Trained Models for Fake News Detection in Dravidian Languages

ensemble approach

fake news detection

pre-trained models

### Welcome to 2025 Annual Conference of the Nations of the Americas Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics

Welcome to the 2025 meeting of the Nations of the Americas Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics! I am proud to help organize the first NAACL conference to carry the new name of our organization, one that emphasizes inclusion for all of the Americas. I am also pleased to welcome you to Albuquerque, New Mexico, a state whose unique blend of cultural influences will make for an excellent backdrop for NAACL 2025, especially with this year’s special theme on NLP in a Multicultural World. 
**[Continue reading...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jX-qGhqVSZZCIrAnJaz798pflu5Irrdn/view?usp=sharing)**

*- Colin Cherry, Google, NAACL 2025 General Chair* 

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Welcome to 2025 Annual Conference of the Nations of the Americas Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics

workshop paper

Online product reviews influence customer choices and company reputations. However, companies can counter negative reviews by generating fake reviews that portray their products positively. These fake reviews lead to legal disputes and concerns, particularly because AI detection tools are limited in low-resource languages such as Tamil and Malayalam. To address this, we use machine learning and deep learning techniques to identify AI-generated reviews. We utilize Tamil BERT and Malayalam BERT in the embedding layer to extract contextual features. These features are sent to a Feedforward Neural Network (FFN) with softmax to classify reviews as AI-generated or not. The performance of the model is evaluated on the dataset. The results show that the transformer-based embedding achieves a better accuracy of 91.98% on Tamil data and an accuracy of 87.50% on Malayalam data.

Team-Risers@DravidianLangTech 2025: AI-Generated Product Review Detection in Dravidian Languages Using Transformer-Based Embeddings

This study addresses the challenge of fake news detection in code-mixed and transliterated text, focusing on a multilingual setting with significant linguistic variability. A novel approach is proposed, leveraging a fine-tuned multilingual transformer model trained using Masked Language Modeling on a dataset that includes original, fully transliterated, and partially transliterated text. The fine-tuned embeddings are integrated into a custom transformer classifier designed to capture complex dependencies in multilingual sequences. The system achieves state-of-the-art performance, demonstrating the effectiveness of combining transliteration-aware fine-tuning with robust transformer architectures to handle code-mixed and resource-scarce text, providing a scalable solution for multilingual natural language processing tasks.

byteSizedLLM@DravidianLangTech 2025: Fake News Detection in Dravidian Languages Using Transliteration-Aware XLM-RoBERTa and Transformer Encoder-Decoder

This research introduces an innovative Attention BiLSTM-XLM-RoBERTa model for tackling the challenge of fake news detection in Malayalam datasets. By fine-tuning XLM-RoBERTa with Masked Language Modeling (MLM) on transliteration-aware data, the model effectively bridges linguistic and script diversity, seamlessly integrating native, Romanized, and mixed-script text. Although most of the training data is monolingual, the proposed approach demonstrates robust performance in handling diverse script variations. Achieving a macro F1-score of 0.5775 and securing top rankings in the shared task, this work highlights the potential of multilingual models in addressing resource-scarce language challenges and sets a foundation for future advancements in fake news detection.

byteSizedLLM@DravidianLangTech 2025: Fake News Detection in Dravidian Languages Using Transliteration-Aware XLM-RoBERTa and Attention-BiLSTM

This research presents a robust multimodal framework for hate speech detection in Malayalam, combining fine-tuned Wav2Vec 2.0, Malayalam-Doc-Topic-BERT, and an Attention-Driven BiLSTM architecture. The proposed approach effectively integrates acoustic and textual features, achieving a macro F1-score of 0.84 on the Malayalam test set. Fine-tuning Wav2Vec 2.0 on Malayalam speech data and leveraging Malayalam-Doc-Topic-BERT significantly improved performance over prior methods using openly available models. The results highlight the potential of language-specific models and advanced multimodal fusion techniques for addressing nuanced hate speech categories, setting the stage for future work on Dravidian languages like Tamil and Telugu.

byteSizedLLM@DravidianLangTech 2025: Multimodal Hate Speech Detection in Malayalam Using Attention-Driven BiLSTM, Malayalam-Topic-BERT, and Fine-Tuned Wav2Vec 2.0

This study presents a hybrid model integrating TamilXLM-RoBERTa and MalayalamXLM-RoBERTa with BiLSTM and attention mechanisms to classify AI-generated and human-written product reviews in Tamil and Malayalam. The model employs a transliteration-based fine-tuning strategy, effectively handling native, Romanized, and mixed-script text. Despite being trained on a relatively small portion of data, our approach demonstrates strong performance in distinguishing AI-generated content, achieving competitive macro F1 scores in the DravidianLangTech 2025 shared task. The proposed method showcases the effectiveness of multilingual transformers and hybrid architectures in tackling low-resource language challenges.

byteSizedLLM@DravidianLangTech 2025: Detecting AI-Generated Product Reviews in Dravidian Languages Using XLM-RoBERTa and Attention-BiLSTM

This research investigates abusive comment detection in Tamil and Malayalam, focusing on code-mixed, multilingual social media text. A hybrid Attention BiLSTM-XLM-RoBERTa model was utilized, combining fine-tuned embeddings, sequential dependencies, and attention mechanisms. Despite computational constraints limiting fine-tuning to a subset of the AI4Bharath dataset, the model achieved competitive macro F1-scores, ranking 6th for both Tamil and Malayalam datasets with minor performance differences. The results emphasize the potential of multilingual transformers and the need for further advancements, particularly in addressing linguistic diversity, transliteration complexity, and computational limitations.

byteSizedLLM@DravidianLangTech 2025: Abusive Tamil and Malayalam Text targeting Women on Social Media Using XLM-RoBERTa and Attention-BiLSTM

Detecting misogyny in memes is challenging due to their multimodal nature, especially in low-resource languages like Tamil and Malayalam. This paper presents our work in the Misogyny Meme Detection task, utilizing both textual and visual features. We propose an Attention-Driven BiLSTM-XLM-RoBERTa-ResNet model, combining a transliteration-aware fine-tuned XLM-RoBERTa for text analysis and ResNet-50 for image feature extraction. Our model achieved Macro-F1 scores of 0.8805 for Malayalam and 0.8081 for Tamil, demonstrating competitive performance. However, challenges such as class imbalance and domain-specific image representation persist. Our findings highlight the need for better dataset curation, task-specific fine-tuning, and advanced fusion techniques to enhance multimodal hate speech detection in Dravidian languages.

byteSizedLLM@DravidianLangTech 2025: Multimodal Misogyny Meme Detection in Low-Resource Dravidian Languages Using Transliteration-Aware XLM-RoBERTa, ResNet-50, and Attention-BiLSTM

This study investigates sentiment analysis in code-mixed Tamil-English text using an Attention BiLSTM-XLM-RoBERTa model, combining multilingual embeddings with sequential context modeling to enhance classification performance. The model was fine-tuned using masked language modeling and trained with an attention-based BiLSTM classifier to capture sentiment patterns in transliterated and informal text. Despite computational constraints limiting pretraining, the approach achieved a Macro f1 of 0.5036 and ranked first in the competition. The model performed best on the Positive class, while Mixed Feelings and Unknown State showed lower recall due to class imbalance and ambiguity. Error analysis reveals challenges in handling non-standard transliterations, sentiment shifts, and informal language variations in social media text. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of transformer-based multilingual embeddings and sequential modeling for sentiment classification in code-mixed text.

byteSizedLLM@DravidianLangTech 2025: Sentiment Analysis in Tamil Using Transliteration-Aware XLM-RoBERTa and Attention-BiLSTM

Hate speech detection is a serious challenge due to the different digital media communication, particularly in low-resource languages. This research focuses on the problem of multimodal hate speech detection by incorporating both textual and audio modalities. In the context of social media platforms, hate speech is conveyed not only through text but also through audios, which may further amplify harmful content. In order to manage the issue, we provide a multiclass classification model that influences both text and audio features to detect and categorize hate speech in low-resource languages. The model uses machine learning models for text analysis and audio processing, allowing it to efficiently capture the complex relationships between the two modalities. Class weight mechanism involves avoiding overfitting. The prediction has been finalized using the majority fusion technique. Performance is measured using a macro average F1 score metric. Three languages—Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu—have the optimal F1-scores, which are 0.59, 0.52, and 0.33.

SSNCSE@DravidianLangTech 2025: Multimodal Hate Speech Detection in Dravidian Languages

Detecting fake news in under-resourced Dravidian languages is a rigorous task due to the scarcity of annotated datasets and the intricate nature of code-mixed text. This study tackles these issues by employing advanced machine learning techniques for two key classification tasks, the first task involves binary classification achieving a macro-average F1-score of 0.792 using a hybrid fusion model that integrates Bidirectional Recurrent Neural Network (Bi-RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM)-Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) with weighted averaging. The second task focuses on fine-grained classification, categorizing news where an LSTM-GRU hybrid model attained a macro-average F1-score of 0.26. These findings highlight the effectiveness of hybrid models in improving fake news detection for under-resourced languages. Additionally, this study provides a foundational framework that can be adapted to address similar challenges in other under-resourced languages, emphasizing the need for further research in this area.

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Next from NAACL 2025

Team-Risers@DravidianLangTech 2025: AI-Generated Product Review Detection in Dravidian Languages Using Transformer-Based Embeddings

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