Romania’s Foreign Ministry to monitor online content with AI

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) will have an AI-based IT system by the end of this year to monitor real-time online content from social networks, news websites, blogs, and more, in order to detect, analyze, and combat disinformation and propaganda.

The tender for such a system, worth RON 3.19 million (EUR 642,500), was awarded earlier this month to Mware Solutions, which made the sole offer.

This comes after a similar procedure was canceled on August 21, 2023, due to the submission of "only unacceptable and/or non-compliant bids."

The IT system should be made available by no later than December 20, 2023, as stated in the SEAP announcement.

"The contract's subject is the purchase of IT services for the development of an IT tool in the form of an integrated platform based on advanced artificial intelligence algorithms for the analysis and verification of online content. This tool will be able to determine its origin for the purpose of detecting, analyzing, identifying, and combating online disinformation, thereby contributing to making clear decisions to counteract propaganda and disinformation in the online environment within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' areas of responsibility. The contract also includes the acquisition of training services for the preparation of in-house personnel to use the developed IT tool," as stated in the specifications cited by Digi24.

The IT tool will be a web-based solution, accessible by designated representatives from the MAE, providing various capabilities, including emotional state analysis induced by an article, influencer and profile analysis, the most popular authors, the most active websites, and the most influential websites.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Octav Ganea)