Blockchains Stand Against Fake News
An analysis into the use cases of blockchain to bring increased trust into the information that we consume on a daily basis.
A Growing Distrust
The 2021 Digital News Report released a study reporting that American trust in media currently sits at around 30 percent. Over the last couple of decades, the United States population has seen its trust in media sources drop at staggering rates.
With the American Media industry being valued at 660 billion dollars, leaders within the industry have proven time and time again that they are for-profit and not for the people.
Today's day and age of media prioritize soundbites and 5-second video clips that leave viewers and listeners with just a fraction of the context within consumed content. This limited context is a breeding ground for misinformation and propaganda coming from all sides of the political spectrum leaving those left to consume information weary of trust and demanding change.
Power in Propaganda
The Russian Ukraine conflict has rocketed into public attention since the start of March and with it, has brought countless outlets all painting their own picture further pushing their own agenda. While the Russian state media outlets spout totalitarian baseless claims of Nazism to back their invasion, western media is not without fault.
Just recently a number of photos began circulating through the internet and media outlets of Ukraine's president Zelensky supposedly joining his fellow soldiers on the front lines in bulletproof armor. It was later discovered that these pictures were taken the previous year during a standard military exercise.
Central state governments' practice of empowering misinformation has been the catalyst of war since before the documentation of history. With the Mexican American War, Spanish American War, Philippine–American War, World War 1, Vietnam War, and Iraqi invasion all being spurred on with falsified media to rile up the nationalism of the American Populus, fake news could arguably be cited as the cause of death for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
At the foundation of this history of propaganda lies first-hand accounts, pictures, videos, and various forms of media that valued sensationalism over validity. Blockchain presents a solution to flip this dynamic on its own head.
Verifiability on the Blockchain
In recent years the world has seen the introduction of deep fakes into media. Deep fakes are characterized as videos that have undergone digital manipulation to alter the truth being presented to the viewer.
This threat of manipulation has been recognized on an international level with the United Nations in 2021 stating growing concerns towards the advanced technology being used for malicious purposes. With officials desperate for an answer to combat this issue, blockchain makes its entrance with immutable recordability.
By keeping an immutable record of all changes that have happened in the lifespan of the given piece of media, blockchain provides a transparent framework that can supply users with imperative information for trust such as when, where, and how media was collected.
The Story of Mounir Ibrahim
An advisor to the United States during the Syrian refugee crisis. Mounir was part of the effort for an increased call to action by the international community for those affected by the disaster.
Due to the void of formalized news sources producing information in the country, The world's decisions and actions were based on media being smuggled out of the country in the form of user-generated data. This was a central contributor to the international community's failure to act in a timely manner Mounir claims.
Continuing on, he states that any country or entity that wanted to deny the reality of the crisis could simply claim that media coming out of the region depicting a state of crisis was faked or manipulated. Frustrated, Ibrahim recognized the need for fundamental change in the reliability of media to be trusted. Leaving his role as an international advisor he joined the project “TruePic” to tackle this challenge.
By utilizing the immutable nature of data input on the blockchain, TruePic creates a database of information that can verifiably determine both the origins and any changes that have been made to a given photo or video.
Staying true to their humanitarian roots TruePic has been incorporated in a groundbreaking way to save on oversight fees with the United Nations Capital Development Fund or (UNCDF). Being deployed in some of the most hard-to-reach places on Earth, the UNCDF faces a massive economic expenditure of mandating oversight within aid projects. In the previous model, overseers must be given all-expense-paid trips to given areas to assure the validity of progress. TruePic’s model cuts these costs entirely by placing that trust in the verifiability of the blockchain. In this way, the trust that is given within the expensive practice of sending an overseer can be replaced with the taking of a variety of pictures and videos from a local resident.
Reputation on the Blockchain
When looking for trustworthiness from the information that we consume, viewers, listeners, and readers alike are often faced with the dilemma of only recognizing the reputation of major news and media sources.
Blockchain provides a grassroots solution to empower those who wish to transmit information that may not have the same platform as Fox News or CNN.
Utilizing its decentralized nature users could generate a Reputation that follows the author to keep track of validity behind claims being made.
For example, a reporter would be rewarded for a career of honesty and integrity through the cultivation of a community of readers who determine the validity of each published piece of media. While the reporter who is focused on sensationalism before validity could be recognized by the community as manipulative and misleading.
Conclusion
The tale of history has demonstrated that misinformation can and will be used against the people to push the unseen agendas of those within power. As we move forward into this digital age of mass media consumption, it’s imperative a solution is found to regain trust within the media that conveys such a pivotal part of our lives. Blockchain’s transparent and immutable nature provides a grassroots framework for the Populus to hold all levels of media accountable and truthful.
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