Verizon Turns to Blockchain Technology to Bring Transparency to News Media
Blockchain enters newsrooms with the aim to separate noise from the news.
Verizon Turns to Blockchain to Sanitize News Media Industry
In an announcement made on October 31, U.S.-based multinational telecom conglomerate – Verizon Communications Inc. – stated that it had implemented a blockchain-verified record of changes to its news releases.
The initiative, dubbed ‘Full Transparency’ is aimed toward separating fact from fiction and as such is a proof-of-concept built with open-source distributed ledger technology (DLT) in partnership with Huge, MadNetwork, and AdLedger.
The initiative is ‘designed to raise the bar for corporate accountability,’ the announcement notes.
The announcement cites data from the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, according to which, close to 60% of consumers globally believe that the media they consume is contaminated with untrustworthy information.
Verizon places high significance to transparency on news releases. Per the company, the Full Transparency initiative will leverage blockchain technology so news releases or statements can be treated authoritatively reflecting exactly what was intended to be released.
Notably, all blockchain news releases published to the Verizon Newsroom will be secured via cryptographic principles, enabling quick and easy tracking of any subsequent changes.
Commenting on the development, Jim Gerace, Chief Communications Officer, Verizon, said:
“As a technology company that quite literally connects people to information, we are excited to bring Full Transparency to market—a product that, in its own quiet way, can help ensure corporate accountability and trust.”
Adding,
“We invite organizations across the world that prize transparency as much as we do to adopt blockchain-verified communication practices.”
It’s also worthy of note that Full Transparency is an extension of Citizen Verizon, a responsible business plan aimed toward driving economic, environmental, and social advancement through promotion of technology as a tool to improve communities, education, and the workplace.
Blockchain and News Media Industry
Blockchain technology’s immutability makes it an attractive tool to leverage to bring a degree of sanitization in the increasingly cluttered news media industry today.
As previously reported by BTCManager, The New York Times was mulling using the Hyperledger Fabric to build a proof-of-concept to fight fake news.
On a recent note, the Associated Press tapped DLT to fight U.S. Elections fake news by collaborating with Everipedia and decentralized oracle provider Chainlink (LINK).
