Screen Adverse Media

Screen a person or organisation for adverse media coverage, PEP (Politically Exposed Person) status, and sanctions exposure. Every hit is corroboration-gated: the screen returns "review", never "guilty", and "nothing found" is never a clean record. Uses the Stipple API (free anonymous tier).

When to use

AML/CTF onboarding (Tranche 2 reforms make this mandatory for more Australian businesses)
Vendor/supplier due diligence before signing
Investor or LP vetting
Ongoing counterparty monitoring (re-run periodically, compare warrant IDs)

Instructions

Get the target. Name of the person or organisation. For document-based screening, a PDF/image of their ID or company extract can also be submitted.

Run the screen.

Name-based (via MCP — the REST intake is document-based):

# Via any MCP client pointed at https://www.stipple.sh/mcp:
# tool: screen_adverse_media
# args: {"name": "John Citizen", "entity_type": "person"}

Document-based (REST — screens the person/org named in the uploaded document):

curl -X POST https://www.stipple.sh/v1/adverse-media \
  -F "file=@company-extract.pdf" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STIPPLE_API_KEY"

Interpret the response.
- rating — the overall screening result ("review", "clear", etc.)
- hits[] — adverse media articles: date, title, source, URL, summary
- pep[] — PEP signals (empty = none found)
- sanctions[] — sanctions list signals (empty = none found)

Report with the right framing. Non-negotiable framing rules:

Finding	Correct framing
Hits found	"Review recommended — see articles below" (never "guilty")
Nothing found	"No corroborated adverse media found — this is NOT a clean record; coverage is bounded by the source list"
PEP signal	"PEP status identified — enhanced due diligence may apply"

Contextualize. Every hit is corroborated across sources before inclusion — but the screen is the start of human review, not the end of it. Date-range and source-coverage limitations are real.

Output format

screening rating: review

adverse media hits:
  - [2025-11-02] Court action over unpaid supplier debts
      source: The Age  https://...
  - [2024-06-18] ASIC disqualification
      source: ASIC media releases  https://...

PEP signals: 0
sanctions list signals: 0

This screen returns "review", never "guilty" — every hit is corroboration-gated.

Limitations and Safety

Screening processes personal data and potentially damaging allegations through a hosted third party. Confirm a lawful purpose, obtain any required approval, send only the minimum identifiers needed, and verify current retention, residency, access, and deletion terms before transmission.
Name matches, PEP signals, sanctions hits, and media reports can be incomplete, stale, misattributed, or false. Corroborate every consequential result with the original source and authoritative registers; never publish an allegation as fact.
This is not a legal AML/CTF determination. A qualified human reviewer must resolve identity ambiguity, document the reasoning, and provide an appropriate correction or appeal path before rejecting or restricting a person or organization.

Notes

Costs 3 credits per screen; free weekly allowance applies
For AML flows, pair with check-identity-pack (identity) and verify-document (document genuineness)
"Nothing found" ≠ "clean record" — always state this in reports
Free key at https://www.stipple.sh for metering beyond the anonymous allowance

screen-adverse-media