Scaling the battle against disinformation and information overload

In a world where technology influences nearly every facet of governance, innovative digital tools have become a core component in tackling today’s most pressing challenges—a mission that the Paris Peace Forum has championed over the past seven years by identifying and addressing critical societal issues to inspire meaningful change.

Among the recent success stories showcased at the forum is Dalil, Siren’s award-winning media monitoring and analysis suite that helps people overcome information overload.

Fighting disinformation in virtual spaces

As part of the “Tech-Driven Solutions for a Fairer World” session, Siren Analytics’ co-founder, Theodore Caponis, showcased Dalil, while reflecting upon the growing importance of combatting false narratives in digital spaces and the platform’s role in accelerating access to accurate information.

“Information disorder – it’s everywhere, but it’s not new. It has been around forever. The difference today is technology, which is making it easier, faster and more convenient to create, share and disseminate disinformation,” he said. “But the sword is double edged – it can amplify this information, and it can also provide us with tools to counter disinformation. And this is where we come in.”

AI-driven solutions for information disorder

Theodore outlined that Dalil monitors, analyses and verifies media content in real time, automating part of the process across these functions. It is an essential tool, as “information disorder concerns everyone. There are the frontliners, fact-checkers and journalists, but it is also for individuals to be part of this fight. Today at Dalil, we are trying to simplify these verification and automated monitoring tools through AI because we have to use the same weapons. You cannot go to a gun fight with a sword – you have to go with the same weapons you are being fought with.”  

A regional start with significant expansion

Dalil focused initially on the MENA region, starting a partnership in 2022 with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and the Jordan Open Source Association, supporting the work of around 30-40 organisations in the Arab Fact-Checkers Network.   

This past year, the project expanded in partnership with Article 19 and the EU to serve the Western Balkans, concentrating on Serbian and Croatian media with around 100 journalists. Dalil also partnered with Les Surligneurs, working on legal checking, developing a bot with generative AI, allowing for the verification of public claims against International Humanitarian Law.  The platform additionally has a new OSINT functionality, tailored for social media sentiment analysis, open not only to fact checkers and journalists, but also for individuals, governments, institutions and organisations. 

Long-term sustainability is essential

Dalil was guided in this growth through mentorship on Paris Peace Forum’s Scale-up Program (SCUP).

“Working with SCUP over the last year helped us a lot – it was a real push forward for the project,” Theodore said. “It has allowed Dalil to expand in its scope and focus on what matters most – combatting disinformation.” 

When asked about long-term sustainability, Theodore said, “The platform needs to remain open access. It’s for the public good, its tech for good.” 

He explained that the platform is a vital resource for fact-checkers and journalists working to combat disinformation but emphasised that it also needs a sustainable model to thrive. It operates on a freemium basis, allowing free access for those serving the public good, while generating revenue from larger organisations like media outlets and think tanks. These paying users benefit from access to more specialised AI tools and advanced data capabilities, creating a balanced approach to funding and impact. 

Branching out

When asked if there were any plans to expand the platform, specifically to Latin America, Theodore pointed out that in order to expand, it is necessary to understand local languages, dialects and cultural nuances of news and media. “As soon as we find a partner who is interested in extending the platform to their region, ‘on est partant (we’re ready).’”