NLP-Driven Fake News Detection: A Machine Learning Perspective

The rapid spread of fake news poses a significant challenge, impacting public opinion, decision-making, and societal trust. This study explores the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques for robust fake news detection. Using datasets such as ISOT Fake News, WELFake, and Football Fake News, the project employs advanced preprocessing methods and feature extraction techniques, including TF-IDF, Word2Vec, and GloVe. A comprehensive evaluation of machine learning models—Random Forest, Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Neural Networks—was conducted to identify the optimal configuration. Results demonstrate that Random Forest with TF-IDF excels in in-domain detection, achieving an F1-score of 99.70%, while Neural Networks paired with Word2Vec and GloVe embeddings outperform in cross-dataset scenarios. The study highlights the importance of dataset size, domain relevance, and feature representation in achieving high generalizability. These findings provide a scalable framework for combating misinformation on digital platforms.