Dalil

The solution is a product developed by Siren Analytics, a tech for good company. It initially stems from a donor-funded project.

The challenge we are addressing is the proliferation of false, manipulated, and misleading content online, and its detrimental impact on society. This issue is amplifying various challenges, including extremism, political instability, and gender-based violence. The ease and speed at which false narratives spread online have turned content-sharing into a reflex rather than a thoughtful act, often devoid of critical thinking. The incentive structure of the current global media system, which prioritizes content performance and sensationalism, further incentivizes the spread of such content, often at the cost of credibility.  

The problem is significant, both locally and globally. Particularly in languages other than English, like Arabic, the issue is exacerbated by inadequate content moderation practices. The lack of cultural and linguistic understanding of Arabic dialects, ineffective algorithmic tools, and the operational constraints of fact-checking groups in the region contribute to this challenge. This results in a lack of accountability for those creating and disseminating harmful content.  

The scale of this problem is vast, affecting millions of people globally. While specific statistics on the number of individuals affected may vary, the impact of misleading content online is undeniable. The consequences include the spread of harmful ideologies, the disruption of social stability, and the perpetuation of violence, particularly targeting vulnerable communities.  

Our solution aims to address the heart of this problem by tackling contributing factors and making a significant impact in mitigating the harmful effects of false and misleading content online. 

Our solution, Dalil, is an innovative web platform designed to promote information integrity and address the challenges of information overload and disinformation. Dalil utilizes the power of AI to automate the labor-intensive tasks of content monitoring and verification, revolutionizing the way people access reliable information. 

Dalil's unique approach involves gathering content from a wide range of news outlets in multiple languages. It categorizes articles by topics and popularity, offering users a comprehensive overview of trending issues, free from the bias of third-party ranking algorithms. With Dalil, users can explore diverse perspectives and gain unbiased insights. 

One of Dalil's key strengths is its suite of proprietary and open-source analysis tools. These tools empower users to easily assess the reliability of images, videos, and text, all within one platform. This streamlined verification process eliminates the need to juggle multiple resources, thus accelerating decision-making and enhancing efficiency.  A cornerstone in Dalil’s arsenal of verification tools is Dalil Check which harnesses the power of AI to conduct comprehensive discourse analysis. This custom-built tool helps users flag subjective speech within blocks of text, along with rhetorical devices intended to sway reader perceptions. By providing this analysis, Dalil Check facilitates the identification of potentially dubious content, significantly enhancing the efficiency and productivity of fact-checkers.

We have designed Dalil to be agile and adaptable to the ever-changing landscape of information disorder. By collaborating closely with different user groups, we ensure that Dalil remains up-to-date and relevant. We regularly update its tools, integrate new technologies, and expand its language capabilities to continuously enhance its value proposition across various organizational contexts. With Dalil, we aim to empower individuals and organizations to navigate the information landscape with confidence, enabling them to make informed decisions and contribute to a more informed and engaged society. 

Our target population includes a diverse range of individuals and organizations who are actively seeking to improve the accuracy and reliability of the information they encounter or produce. This includes information consumers who doubt the veracity of stories, professional journalists and fact-checkers on the front lines of combating disinformation, civil society organizations dedicated to peacebuilding efforts, and public and private entities aiming to navigate the disinformation landscape effectively. 

To date, we have primarily collaborated with fact-checkers from the MENA region, recognizing the unique challenges they face. Most operate with almost non-existent resources and face serious barriers to accessing information needed to verify claims. Coupled with a lack of available fact-checking tools in the Arabic language and weaker moderation practices by social media platforms for Arabic content, this has contributed to a proliferation of misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech in the region.

Dalil was originally designed to address the needs of these fact-checkers. By integrating a fine-tuned Large Language Model (LLM) for Arabic, Dalil enables efficient monitoring and scraping of Arabic-language news outlets, clustering content by topic to provide a comprehensive overview. Additionally, our custom LLM enhances content verification by analyzing the level of subjectivity and the presence of rhetorical devices aiming to influence readers, thus facilitating the identification of dubious content. 

We are now expanding Dalil's reach to serve the broader media ecosystem, including content producers, consumers, and policymakers. Through a recent collaboration with Les Surligneurs, a Paris-based organization founded by law professors who have set out to put law back at the heart of the European public debate, we are automating legal checking with the development of an AI model on Dalil that would help in the verification of the public and media discourses against international humanitarian law.

By empowering our target population with the tools and insights provided by Dalil, we aim to improve their ability to discern reliable information, make informed decisions, and contribute to a more truthful and transparent information environment.

Siren Analytics helps organizations across the public and social sectors in addressing the immediate and long-term needs of communities they serve. Our approach combines responsive, sustainable strategies with impactful, data-driven technology to solve complex problems. With a proven track record in driving efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in low-resource and conflict-affected environments, we specialize in research, policymaking, organizational change management, and digital transformation.

We are building the Dalil capacity to deliver value across different organisational landscapes, particularly across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.  This iterative and collaborative approach ensures that the platform sustainably enables fast and informed decision-making in complex environments, ultimately contributing to the integrity of the information landscape and to positive outcomes across a range of mission-critical actions.  

To date, we have built and tested an extensive web platform which has already made a significant impact in the field of content monitoring and verification. With over 360 news outlets monitored and scraped in near real-time, Dalil has demonstrated its impressive reach and capabilities. Filling a crucial gap in the market, it is one of the few content moderation tools that can effectively process Arabic content.  

Our platform has scraped and analyzed over 2.7 million media articles, automatically assessing the level of biased content and propaganda in each. This not only provides users with instant insights into the nature of an article but also offers a vast dataset for further insights and research on the information ecosystem. Additionally, Dalil is now home to 15+ content analysis tools, enabling users to verify images, videos, and text efficiently. 

In under a year, our user base of professional fact-checkers and media workers has grown to over 200. Dalil facilitates a unified workflow and enhances collaboration among fact-checking organizations. Through our partnerships with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and the Jordan Open Source Association, we have also  helped build the capacities of over 30 MENA-focused fact-checking organizations. This includes delivering 41 training workshops, eight policies around digital safety, 61 digital safety and security clinics, and four best-practice guidelines. 

The impact of our platform is evident in the positive feedback and adoption by our target audience. We are proud to be making a tangible difference in the fight against disinformation and are committed to continuing our efforts to improve the information landscape.

As we continue to push the boundaries in our efforts to combat disinformation and amplify our impact, we encounter several challenges that demand our attention. One of the primary obstacles we face is financial constraints. The costs associated with API access, which are essential for expanding our monitoring capabilities, present a significant financial burden. Securing additional resources would enable us to overcome this hurdle and invest in advanced language processing technologies, enhancing our ability to process and analyze vast amounts of data. Another area of focus is refining our business model and strategy. We recognize the importance of clearly defining our target audience to develop a pricing strategy that resonates with our global user base. By seeking guidance in market research, product development, and go-to-market approaches, we can ensure that our solution is not only effective but also financially accessible to those who need it. This tailored approach will allow us to expand our reach and serve a wider audience.  

Additionally, we prioritize extending our global reach and establishing a strong brand presence. By leveraging public relations and social media marketing strategies, we aim to communicate our message effectively to diverse target audiences. Building a recognizable and trusted brand will enable us to leave a lasting impression and reach even more individuals.  

By tackling these barriers, we will be well-positioned to expand our monitoring capabilities, strengthen our technological infrastructure, increase our global presence, and scale our efforts to promote a more informed and engaged society.

Dalil, takes on the complex issues of disinformation and information overload with a unique approach. Dalil harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to revolutionize content monitoring and verification by automating labor-intensive tasks through cutting-edge technology. This acceleration in identifying and analyzing potential disinformation frees up valuable time for human resources, allowing them to focus on more analytical and strategic work. Yet, what truly sets Dalil apart is its ability to cater to a global audience. With support for multiple languages, including effective processing of Arabic content, Dalil aggregates data from diverse news outlets, offering a comprehensive view of trending topics and disinformation campaigns worldwide. This inclusive and globally relevant approach fills a significant gap in the market. 

A key strength of Dalil lies in its suite of analysis tools, which empower users to thoroughly evaluate the reliability of content. These user-friendly and intuitive tools enable the assessment of images, videos, and text for any signs of manipulation or bias, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of fact-checking. Furthermore, Dalil is designed with agility and adaptability in mind. Through ongoing collaboration with our diverse user base and the integration of their valuable feedback, we ensure that our tools and features remain effective, even as disinformation tactics evolve. 

Dalil has the potential to drive positive and impactful change in the information landscape. By empowering individuals with tools for content analysis and verification, we promote media literacy and critical thinking, fostering a healthier and more informed environment. Our commitment to unbiased content aggregation, coupled with our focus on data privacy and ethical practices, builds trust and transparency. This aims to encourages content creators and distributors to uphold the highest standards of accuracy and responsibility. With Dalil, we aim to address the challenges of disinformation and empower a more engaged and informed society.

The solution originally aims to enhance the capabilities and effectiveness of fact-checking entities in the MENA region by providing organizational and technical capacity building support services. These include training on relevant topics, customized regional guidelines, psychosocial, legal, digital and physical support services. 

By strengthening these fact-checking organizations’ abilities through capacity building efforts, their digital and physical security improves, as well as increased alignment with international best practices related to fact-checking. Additionally, combining this capacity building with an innovative technological solution like Dalil facilitates increased uptake and adoption of these new digital tools among the fact-checking organizations.  

Furthermore, advocacy and awareness-raising interventions, such as campaigns, materials, and engaging stakeholders, augment the capabilities of fact-checkers and increase public and policy-maker awareness of the fact-checking network and resources. 

The overall expected impact is continued capacity for network-level activities, secured sustainable financing, stakeholder integration of Dalil, and enhanced effectiveness and resilience of the fact-checking network. This in turn leads to increased use of locally-driven fact-checked online news media by the public and policy makers. 

Our media monitoring and verification platform aims to combat misinformation and promote evidence-based decision-making, thereby contributing to several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, we seek to advance SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). 

Our approach involves training machine learning models to detect various forms of false and misleading information, including election disinformation, hate speech, and rhetoric that promotes sexual and gender-based violence. By identifying and flagging such content, our platform empowers individuals, organizations, and communities to make informed decisions based on facts. 

To measure our progress and impact, we will start tracking the following key indicators: 

- Number of fact-checks facilitated by our platform and added to our database, disaggregated by those related to gender discrimination, climate change denialism, and hate speech. 

- Reach and engagement metrics for fact-checks and counter-narratives disseminated through our platform. 

We will also collaborate with partner organizations working on the ground in relevant domains (e.g., gender equality, climate action, democracy) to tune the model, gather qualitative feedback and improve its accuracy iteratively. 

The core technology powering our solution, Dalil, leverages modern tools and innovative algorithms to create an accessible and powerful web platform.  

Dalil is designed as a user-friendly web application, accessible via web browsers on desktops and mobile devices. This ensures that users can easily access our tools without the need for dedicated mobile apps. The platform is built using React, a modern JavaScript framework known for its interactivity and responsive design. 

At the heart of Dalil is artificial intelligence, specifically AI algorithms for similarity search, clustering, and sentiment analysis. We utilize state-of-the-art BERT-based models, fine-tuned specifically for effective Arabic language analysis, filling a gap in the market. These AI capabilities enable automated content monitoring, verification, and sentiment analysis, enhancing the efficiency of fact-checking processes. 

Additionally, to enhance the functionality of platform, we have integrated several third-party tools that leverage both traditional programming techniques and modern AI approaches. These tools include AI-generation detection, image forgery detection, image reverse search, access to social media data (including Twitter), and video frame analysis, among others. By combining these tools with our proprietary algorithms, we offer a comprehensive suite of content analysis capabilities. 

In order to handle the vast amount of data scraped from news outlets and social media platforms, we utilize Elasticsearch, a powerful search and analytics engine. This enables efficient data indexing, search capabilities, and data aggregation, ensuring that users can quickly find and analyze relevant content. 

Our technology stack is designed to be adaptable, allowing us to continuously integrate new features and improvements based on user feedback and emerging trends.

During development phase, 8 full-time staff and 3 part-time staff. Currently, 3 full-time staff and 2 part-time staff.

16 months.

Our target users and beneficiaries include individuals seeking reliable information, professional journalists and fact-checkers, civil society organizations, and public and private entities interested in navigating the information landscape effectively. Our business model for Dalil is designed to provide value to our users through improved access to reliable information and innovative content monitoring tools, while also ensuring long-term sustainability. It is important to note that Dalil is currently completely free for all users. 

Recognizing the importance of a sustainable business model, we are exploring a combination of revenue streams which are elaborated on below. 

Our financial sustainability plan is centered around diversifying our revenue streams and building on the success of our initial EU grant funding. Over a two-year period, from 2021 to 2023, we received significant financial support from the EU, which was instrumental in developing and launching Dalil. We intend to continue pursuing grants to enhance our operations and expansion. Additionally, we aim to introduce subscription plans targeting individuals, organizations, and enterprises, providing access to premium features and customized tools. This will create a steady stream of recurring revenue and ensure user engagement. Our strategy also includes establishing strategic partnerships with various entities, including media outlets, civil society organizations, educational institutions, and public and private organizations. These collaborations could include customized solutions, integration of our platform into their workflows, and potential revenue-sharing agreements. We will also explore advertising and sponsorship opportunities, such as sponsored content and exclusive brand collaborations, to potentially generate additional income. The success of our EU grant funding demonstrates our ability to secure competitive grants and highlights the impact and potential of our solution. This is further evidenced by the strong and steady user adoption rate we have experienced since our launch, indicating market demand and user satisfaction. Industry recognition, such as being showcased at the Paris Peace Forum and receiving their Scale-Up award, underscores the platform's potential.