Verizon‘s newsroom to use blockchain for total transparency. According to a public statement today, the firm has launched “a blockchain-based, open-source newsroom product designed to lift the bar for corporate accountability.” The network, known as Full Transparency, is intended to record the company’s own news releases immutably on a public blockchain.
Yesterday, Verizon posted the first news article on the website. Alterations made after the original release of the storey were also reported. The representative noted, however, that on the blockchain, “Only text changes are currently tracked.”
Fake news, fact-checking and censorship have created problems for social media and mainstream media alike in recent years. The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer was listed in Verizon’s statement as a measure of people’s media doubts around the world. Based on the Jan. 19 “Trust Barometer” survey by Edelman, 57 percent of people worldwide believe that they can not trust their media completely. In addition, 76% raised concerns about the weaponization of false data.
“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,” Verizon’s chief communications officer, Jim Gerace, said in the statement, adding “We invite organizations across the world that prize transparency as much as we do to adopt blockchain-verified communication practices.”
Verizon hopes that the platform will set a new standard for corporate transparency and responsibility. “All news releases published to the Verizon Newsroom will be secured and bound using cryptographic principles, so that subsequent changes can be tracked and contextualized,” the statement included.
The endeavor is the result of collaboration between marketing company Huge, blockchain data storage company MadNetwork and nonprofit blockchain application entity AdLedger.
[image: Glassdoor]
