Italy is still in the middle of the war with an invisible enemy. But while the country is suffering in strict quarantine to limit the spread of COVID-19, it is as well facing an outbreak of virus-related fake news.
In the times when false reports might be a threat to health or even life, truth is critical as never before. While authorities are implementing their own measures, Italy’s top news agency ANSA adopted blockchain to fight the spread of fake information.
ANSA, the leading Italian news agency that representative of 24 national newspapers, announced this week the launch of a blockchain-based news tracking system.
The blockchain-powered technology called ANSAcheck enables readers to see the history of the news and its original source. It will also allow ANSA to keep a record of the use of its news, and bring together web agencies, news publishers, and other players in the news industry.
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When readers open an article in their browser, they can check if it has a digital sticker that is assigned by verifying the parameters of an article published on the ANSA website. If these parameters match with the ones recorded in the blockchain during the creation of the news, the published article will receive the ANSAcheck digital sticker.
Stefano de Alessandri, CEO at ANSA noted that news agency witnessed the frequent fraudulent use of its brand to spread false news amidst the pandemic. He also added:
We are therefore particularly proud to be the first to launch a highly innovative project, carried out for all our readers and the clients of the Agency. Starting today, we can track the origin of the news and - at the same time - support the professionalism of our journalists. This is an important step in the fight against fake news.
According to the announcement, ANSAcheck runs on Ernst & Young OpsChain Traceability technology, which is based on the Ethereum blockchain. It implements smart contract technology by linking articles with their digital representation and creates a cryptographic string.
Since news is an integral part of everyone’s life and credible information is vital during the pandemic, media companies around the world are turning to look for solutions on how to limit fake information spreading. With the traceable and transparent nature of the blockchain, it can be possible to verify the authenticity of the information or its sources and build trust in news displayed on the internet.
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