As digital disinformation and misinformation increase, the media industry faces a profound crisis of confidence. At the centre of this problem is the disconnect with the audience in the era of social media. To mitigate this, tech companies have stepped in as the gatekeepers of information, proposing several solutions. Of these solutions, there is an emerging technology with the potential to address most of the root causes of, and risks associated with, misleading and manipulated media - that is, blockchain. However, the question of how exactly the blockchain technology limits the spread of fake news should be asked.
Blockchain systems utilise a decentralised, immutable ledger to store data in a way that is constantly verified and re-verified by every party that uses it, rendering the information almost unalterable after it has been created and, although not a cure-all, a blockchain-based system could help in three major areas:
· it could offer a decentralised, reliable mechanism for verifying the origin or source of information and other important metadata for online content.
· it could help content creators and sharers to maintain a reputation independent of any institution or publication.
· blockchain technology makes it possible to financially incentivise the creation and distribution of content that meets community-driven standards for integrity and accuracy.
Verifying provenance
Tracking and verifying the origin of information is a crucial way to fight the spread of fake news. Blockchain technology can be used to create a registry of all data: images, captions, locations, copyright ownership and other metadata that could be verified by anyone. For instance, through its News Provenance Project, the New York Times is using blockchain to track metadata, thus providing readers with transparency into how and when content was created. Truepic, a photo and video authentication company, also registers content on the two largest cryptocurrency blockchains - Bitcoin and Ethereum - to establish a chain of custody from capture to storage. In general, blockchain enables the verification of content origin and how it may have been manipulated on its digital journey to the end consumer.
Maintaining identity and reputation
The reputation of a piece of content significantly depends on the publisher - being the primary source of it. For example, which one are you more likely to believe: a piece of news on the New York Times or the one on a website you have never heard of? But, as much as the source determines the identity and reputation of content, solely relying on institution-based reputation comes with certain limitations. According to a recent poll, 69% of US adults admitted their trust in the news media has decreased in the past decade. To worsen matters, in a digital media landscape run by click-based ad revenue, engagement is prioritised over clarity and even reputable publications are increasingly incentivised. When readers are mainly obtaining their news from social media headlines, it hinders their ability to distinguish credible journalistic outlets from interest-driven propaganda machines, and this is where blockchain can help. Blockchain-based systems can verify the identity of a content creator and track its reputation for accuracy, thus removing the need for a single, trusted, centralised institution. An example is that of a recently published paper which has summarised a proposal for a system which allows content creators and journalists to cultivate a reputation score outside of the specific outlets for which they write, utilising a decentralised approach to verify sources, edit history, and other parts of their digital content. Blockchain can also be used to track the distribution of content, enabling both consumers and publishers to have greater visibility into where disinformation comes from and how it moves throughout the digital ecosystem.
Blockchain solution for the media
Incentivising content
One challenge to the promotion of accurate information is that creators and distributors are incentivised to drive clicks (which mostly come from sensationalised content) at all costs. In 2016, Macedonian teenagers pocketed thousands of dollars from pay-per-click ads on disinformation articles shared on Facebook groups. Whilst ad networks are strengthening themselves against fake news, they still have not found a way to eradicate them. However, blockchain (through smart contracts) provides a mechanism to automate payment for content that is verified according to predefined quality standards. In 2017, Civil, a blockchain start-up, was launched to incentivise accuracy in journalism by financially compensating users with cryptocurrency for publishing accurate information and charging fees for every misinformation or disinformation. Although Civil later folded up, new start-ups such as Nwzer and Pressland have recently emerged with the aim to support citizens and independent journalists by removing barriers to distribution and by using blockchain to verify the integrity and accuracy of news content.
ANSA partnered with Ernst Young
Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA), in a collaboration that produced ANSACheck, approached EY with the aim of creating an innovative solution that would track the origin of their stories and trace it through its entire history of updates and reposts on third-party news websites. The solution, ANSACheck, (produced through a proof-of-concept built by the EY teams through the EY OpsChain Traceability solution) enables readers to confirm the authenticity of news origins and gives a deeper understanding of the news process - which is really relevant if a story is controversial. When a story is published by an editor, it is automatically fed into the system with its publication details and ID in a block that is made immutable through notarisation on the blockchain. Each published news story is given an ANSACheck sticker which readers can click on to see the writer or whomever has republished it. If a story gets tampered with, it loses its sticker and its validity cannot be guaranteed. So, a good way to identify and stop fake news from being shared….? With the help of this solution, ANSA has created a new ecosystem-based business model with built-in trust which, in turn, protects the reputations of multiple media brands.
The medical industry
Every year, more than half of healthcare transactions are performed via fax with a significant part of them arriving late. Some contain insufficient or incorrect detail, some may never arrive. According to Deloitte, a single healthcare provider files about 20,000 paper forms annually. It is therefore not surprising that more than 200 million patient records have been exposed to data breaches over the last decade. Key areas where blockchain is envisaged to transform the medical industry include:
· management of electronic medical record (EMR) data
· healthcare data protection
· personal health record data management
· point-of-care genomics management
· electronic health records data management
· health information exchanges (HIEs).
To reduce the problems of drug fraud, the pharmaceutical industry is also exploring the use of blockchain to deliver more secure, auditable and transparent supply chains. According to Deloitte, more than $200billion is lost each year in the US because of counterfeit drugs infiltrating insecure supply chains. Meanwhile, there are already many blockchain healthcare companies currently working. MediLedger, a US-based blockchain healthcare company, enables companies across the prescription drug supply chain to verify the authenticity of medicines, expiry dates and other crucial information. It enables customers to track each package’s end-to-end provenance, including integration with manufacturers, wholesale and shipping. However, although blockchain has the potential to make a considerable difference in the fight against fake news it cannot solve everything, but with the right mix of education and policy this new technology certainly looks set to build a future which all of us can trust.
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