How Blockchain Could Combat Fake News

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The media is one of the important ways we are informed about the happenings in the world and it has come to be relied upon by many when making important decisions infact information shared through news is depended on heavily in our time and the right information could make one make right decision especially wise financial decision all depending on what they information shared is but the wrong one could lead one astray and make decisions leading to harm or bad investment decisions, they are many in our time today who before doing anything they want to know what's happening, they are tuned in to news event happening around the world on their favourite news channel either on tv or on the radio or in the newspaper or any other channel used to dispense information.

But there is a rising issues in our time when it comes to news and that is the fact that all too well most times we tune in hoping to get the right information only to be fed fake news by the media infact today news channels have become the right medium for all sorts of propaganda as it becomes the fastest way to reach grestest number of audience in a short time as possible and this has thus lead to saturation of fake news with many not knowing what to believe, it's often information that helps one to know how to act accordingly and when the source of that information becomes unreliable one wouldn't know how to react and as such it's really important we know not to follow any news we have flying around because in our times fake news is all too common and fake news is everywhere infact it's a very big issue in our time.

Since fake news has become a persistent issue in this modern time it makes it very necessary that we know how to combat this fake news as this is the only way to ensure that we are fed the right information. Information is key in our time and truly with blockchain we can truly be able to combat fake news, yes blockchain technology application isn't just limited to some sector it's application spreads across different sector boards and when it comes to the issues of fake news blockchain could really help us to combat fake news commonly experienced in our time, yes there is true potential in blockchain capability to do this and below I will share the role blockchain could do in this.

Immutable Record Keeping

Many in our time don't really know much about blockchain technology and for many who do they don't really understand just how amazing blockchain is they are rather in the blind on just how wonderful this blockchain is and it great capabilities and one of the great features of blockchain is the fact that it is immutable and this could really help to potentially combat fake news due to the fact that blockchain helps to provide immutable record keeping meaning that any records kept on it is immutable that is, it can't be altered or changed by anyone at will yes for many who doesn't know that is one of the core features that makes blockchain just great.

Once you keep or store any data on this amazing technology then you need not worry anymore because once stored it can't be erased at all for any reason, it is timestamped and altering it, it's just impossible so this means that blockchain could be leveraged on by serving as a platform for news stories to be recorded on, yes the original news once recorded can't be edited by those wishing to share or spread distorted fact as it becomes easier for one to easily verify from blockchain which is true or false thereby helping to properly mitigate or combat fake news which is rather prevalent in our time, as many people would love to distort the truth after the facts with intention to mislead people for their own nefarious agenda whatever that might be.

The timestamp record provided by blockchain could potentially serve to ensure that even if there are ever any edits on an articles even that too could be tracked, yes every details about it and the adjustment as well as what was once there would be tracked helping us to see if the edits are correction or someone trying to distort fact as blockchain provides a transparent ledger publicly verifiable by everyone making it easier for one to differentiate from what is the original information recorded and what changes that were made, literally everything would be easier for news lovers who just want to get to the right information making it difficult for those who spread fake news to carry their agenda.

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Content Provenance and Verification

Then there is content provenance and verification which blockchain could potentially use in combating fake news since it could help provide this platform and what this would potentially help to do is that it would make it easier for any article at all posted on the blockchain for the true origin of the article to be easily traced so one who has made it a life mission to spread fake news hiding under some shade with blockchain as a podium for news it would help to ensure this won't continue as the origin of the article could be traced making everyone think twice before posting fake news also making it possible for one to verify the fact of the information he has before posting in other not to be seen as a bearer of fake news.

As a true platform for content provenance blockchain would potentially help not only in ensuring that the true origin of the article is traced but every other information posted either alongside the article or separately could also be traced, things image or video uploaded there would be trace leading to its origin making it much easier for one to know who the source is and what kind of news they are sharing, truly there is no end to the use of blockchain and by being able to provide traceability of both the article, video and images uploaded it makes it easier for blockchain to help combat fake news, infact that is one way that blockchain truly combat fake news.

Why is it important that there is verification or why do we need the content provenance and content verification that blockchain provides, well that is all due to the reason that we live in times where Al-generalted content are all too common, even many writers don't bother for much anymore and some just post any Al-generalted content and with blockchain providing authentication and verification it would help detect the true sources of the article if it's an Al-generalted content or some deepfakes spread infact and media at all could easily be authenticated by blockchain, blockchain provides true authentication and verification which helps to ensure that what we have isn't fake news or deepfakes or something that is Al-generalted and this is due to the fact blockchain could really verify an article creation and any adjustments made as well, so truly by so doing blockchain would potentially help in combating fake news.

Incentivizing Fact-Checkers through Tokenization

Another way or strategy blockchain could potentially help to combat fake news is true incentivized fact checkers which is achieved through tokenization. How is this to be done? Well most times what we really need is just a little incentive to do what is right and that is something blockchain could easily do through tokenization to ensure that those who check facts and other journalist who are interested in identify the fake news and the right one are rewarded, with a token based incentives blockchain could ensure this and provide a true reward system where anyone who identify false information is being rewarded that would really go a long way to combat fake news as it will make a lot of people interested in fishing out misinformation knowing they could be rewarded for doing so.

With a system that rewards users who make effort to identify those false information through token based incentives it will help encourage many to want to do this and other journalist too would strive to ensure they fish out false information spread by others so that they dont just focus on creating their own news but also on ensuring that the right news is being shared, when verified fact-checkers know that they would be rewarded in their efforts to verify facts it will be an added boost to them tand help them double down on fishing out false information and that would make them go to great lengths in ensuring that the information spread is true.

So token based incentives would help encourage both users and journalist and verified fact checkers to make more efforts to identify false information ensuring that the space isn't saturated with fake news like we commonly see today where we don't know most times how to know the right information and the false one, with the right incentives that blockchain would provide honestly not only journalist would be interested in identifying fake news even community members would strive to ensure that they identify fake news let's just say a token based incentives that blockchain could provide helps to arm more soldiers in the mission to identify false information and the more there are hands on deck trying to fish out false information the more likely what is being reported would be accurate and truly that is just how fake news can be combated by blockchain potentially.

Decentralized News Platforms

Blockchain also provides a decentalized news platform which truly help to ensure that news recorded and not subject to reviews and edits by centralized editors, if editing of news is completely out of the hands of centralized editors that make it also easier for fake news to be combated, already we know blockchain is decentalized hence anything on it benefits from that and is thus decentalized so when it comes to news, blockchain would provide a decentalized platform and that decentalized platform means no shady centralized editor looking to manipulate things in a way that benefits the entity it serves, most centralized editors today are often the cause of fake news as when news are handed over they could edit or or change the narrative in a way that suits their agenda.

The changing or manipulation often initiated by the centralized editorial board who are often in charge of most news before they are posted make it very likey for them to edit information the way they deem fit to serve their nefarious purpose or that of those they serve but ofcourse with blockchain providing a decentalized platform for news that makes that all impossible, meaning no shady centralized editors who maybe looking to manipulate things or edits news in a way that they like or change the narrative to imply something that the news wasn't intended to in the first place so with blockchain decentalized platform it becomes even more harder for anyone at all to change the narratives of the news as they deem fit.

So blockchain potentially helps to combat fake news because information stored on them are very transparent, transparency means everything is visible to the mass for fact-checking and verification and it's true origin can be traced and it also means that information are not in the custody of centralized entities who may want to suppress essential truth that goes against their agenda or manipulate it to spread the wrong message, so truly a decentalized for news is really the way to go in helping combat fake news and this is something blockchain provides and one of the way that blockchain potentially combat fake news.

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Conclusion

So blockchain could truly help to combat fake news if utilized to great effect and just like I have carefully shown the ways it can do this which in summary is by providing a decentalized news platform which takes away control from centralized entities, and through it's immutability in record keeping, ability to provide content provenance and verification and also incentives to fact-checkers which all could go a long way in combating and reducing fake news common in our time.