Blocking Fake News: Blockchain as a Digital Notary. A few years ago, “fake news” was meaningless, but now Americans prioritise it over racism, climate change, and terrorism. Originally a term for the dissemination of factually incorrect material as news, some people today use it to characterize any news they don’t like. This new use confuses fake news. Politicians calling biased news fake news prompted this new definition. Obsession with the phrase damages reliable news outlets. Many people may stop reading news due to fake news concerns. Ignoring contradictory information or cutting off social relationships may increase polarization. Polarisation hinders problem-solving and common ground.
The lack of definitions makes fake news a major problem hard to solve. Defining misinformation and disinformation clarifies “fake news”.False information spread without intent is misinformation. Lying while believing spreads misinformation. Disinformation is intentionally false or biased information, narratives, statements, or propaganda. This meets the first fake news definition. Fake news spreads misinformation through confused readers. Readers need journalists to simplify complex topics. To simplify reading on the go, journalists may highlight key points. People like black-and-white stories. If the story wasn’t meant to mislead, expect corrections. Although incomplete news is problematic, omitting a key detail is not “fake news”.
Fake political, scientific, and economic news can radicalize, harm public health, and manipulate markets. Stopping fake news: how? In their paper, “Authenticating real news with ANSAcheck,” Mary Lacity and Dan Conway from the Blockchain Centre of Excellence explain how ANSA and Ernst & Young use blockchain to combat disinformation.
Going Viral
Even for the most skeptical people, identifying fake news can be hard. People tend to look for information that confirms their existing beliefs attitudes and views. This information is more persuasive than dissonant information. “With so many new sites,” the authors write, “such biases may prompt individuals to select ‘echo chambers,’ that is, news sites that merely echo their ideologies.” Interestingly, people believe that those in their echo chamber can better spot fake news than those from a different group (such as an opposing political party).
Not only can fake news be difficult to spot but how we consume news contributes to the problem. Because social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow users to quickly share information with others, fake news can easily “go viral.” MIT researchers found that Facebook groups can perpetuate fake news around vaccines in two major ways: “They serve as ‘echo chambers’ where members ‘like’ posts from other users that reinforce their views or opinions; and. They act as a dissemination tool when members share posts made in. The group with their own wider social networks.”
Similarly, the more an individual sees a fake news story, the more likely they are to accept it as true. This acceptance is concerning given how social media platforms promote “viral” posts. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, fake stories surrounding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were shared millions of times. There were more fake news story engagements (8.7 million) on Facebook than legitimate news story engagements (7.3 million) in the months leading to the 2016 U.S. election.
Stopping the Spread at the Source
“ions to fake news are deployed after the news has already been released. Fact-checking websites, artificial intelligence, legal liability, and education have helped mitigate the impact of fake news.
What if there was a way to stop a single solution that can eradicate fake news,” the authors write. Everyone from governments, journalists, publishers, social media platforms, and citizens has important roles to play to stop the spread. Currently, most solute the fake news at its source. ANSA, one of Italy’s independent news agencies, developed a unique solution to do just that. ANSA ran into problems with imposters, and fake news stories that appeared to have been released by ANSA. These imposters used the ANSA brand, format, and signature to give credibility to fake news stories. Since these stories had the traditional markers of the ANSA brand, readers had few reasons to reject the stories as fake news.
Stefano De Alessandri, CEO and managing director of ANSA, led the ANSAcheck initiative to combat the imposters. “Fake news is one of the biggest challenges facing traditional media organizations and social media platforms,” said De Alessandri. An impostor story “undermines the trust they have built with the public and advertisers, undermining their strategic asset that is their reputation. If we lose trust, we lose everything.”
ANSA worked with EY to use blockchain technologies to guarantee the origin of an ANSA-created story and trace that story through its entire history of updates and reposts. The solution is a digital notarization. Just as notary publics in the United States impartially confirm identities and verify signatures of important documents, ANSAcheck verifies that news did come from ANSA and not an imposter.
All Aboard the Blockchain Train
Food safety, supply chain management, financial services, and others are adopting blockchain, a promising new technology. Blockchains are distributed ledgers that store data in a growing list of ordered records. Imagine a train or train network to understand this.
A blockchain is a system of interwoven vehicles, or blocks, links via cryptography and operating on a system of rails, or nodes, much like a big train duplicating over several tracks. Block data is relatively distinct, and only a portion of the total data set. Like a passenger train without a cargo car, a blockchain can only contain certain data. Cryptography keeps cars connected securely, and nodes regulate data like rails keep trains on track. Only the Reader’s Digest version of blockchains is available. Find out more.
Blockchains are ideal for news verification, among other tasks. ANSAcheck posts ANSA-created news stories to a public blockchain every 15–30 minutes with a unique ID. The blockchain records the news story’s story ID, transaction ID, timestamp, and location in a tamper-resistant way. The source and updates of each verified news story can be found by clicking the ANSAcheck sticker. This sticker works like the lock next to a URL on your browser to mark a site as “safe”.
ANSA stories (red cars) and imposters (blue cars) make up the database train network of potential ANSA publications. At the starting depot, the blockchain will reject even a simple story alteration, such as adding a blue car to the train, or a made-up story with only one letter shift. New stories are put onto the train in the form of additional red cars, which are firmly attached. The solution can register 3,000 news stories daily, and as of October 6, 2020, the blockchain had over 500,000 ANSA news stories. The solution will eventually authenticate images and
What to Know Going Forward
The Walton College Blockchain Centre of Excellence shares four ANSAcheck lessons for other companies using blockchains to solve problems. Although most companies use permissioned platforms, EY supports and invests in public networks to promote open, decentralized blockchains. Even though a blockchain is public, not everyone can access its data. EY’s blockchain is like a VPN for private transactions on public blockchains. Companies implementing blockchain solutions should consider public blockchains for scalability and transparency.
The reputation and networks of founding members in a blockchain ecosystem are more significant than their number. “Trusting the founding member(s) will encourage other potential members to join the application.” The leading Italian news wire agency, ANSA, is connected to over 35 publishers. Other publishers improve their reputation by increasing ANSAcheck’s value by joining ANSA’s blockchain network.
Blockchain can be scary. Cryptography, distributed digital ledgers, native digital assets, smart contracts, and more can confuse anyone. “ANSA chose to educate readers more on what blockchains enable rather than explaining the technical details,” the authors write. Making initial solutions simple helps potential adopters understand their value and reduce risk.
Blockchain technology adoption also depends on how potential adopters view the solution. Potential adopters are less likely to join if they are overwhelmed by the topic and can’t see its value. Verification increases brand awareness and confidence, and tracking reposts and other analytics helps publishers accurately price subscription and advertising fees. Focusing on blockchains’ value helps potential adopters see past their complexity.
The Future of Blockchain
The information verification industry is one of many that stands to benefit greatly from blockchain technology. Thirty percent of the world’s news will use blockchain technology for verification by 2023. Blockchain technology shows great promise in addressing many of the issues surrounding fake news, which is causing unprecedented levels of concern. While ANSA was the pioneer in Italy to adopt blockchain technology, it has no intention of being the last. When everyone uses this solution, readers, publishers, and journalists all benefit. Democracy benefits from any means to protect and expand professional information, according to De Alessandro. Blockchain technology has the potential to unite us, block by block.
