• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 2, 2020

Verizon is combatting misinformation by implementing a blockchain-verified record of changes to its public communications, as one report estimates that 60% of consumers globally believe the media they consume is inaccurate or untrustworthy.

Consumers today tend to trust behavior based on delivering on promises and doing the right thing to improve society.

This year’s Trust Barometer from Edelman reveals that Business ranks highest in competence, holding a 54-point edge over government as an institution that is effective at what it does. Government and media, however, are perceived as both incompetent and unethical.

Verizon's initiative — Full Transparency — aims to change that perception. Full Transparency is a proof of concept built with MadNetwork’s open-source blockchain technology in partnership with AdLedger and Huge. It aims to provide credibility for corporate public releases.

AdLedger is the non-profit building blockchain solutions and standards for digital media, with members like Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, WPP, The Hershey Company, The New York Times, Meredith, and Hearst.

Since a large portion of social content is shared articles, adoption of technology like this is expected to have a positive impact on social platforms.

Full Transparency by Verizon, which aims to change how publishers publish news, sits on a blockchain-based, open-source technology to improve corporate accountability. It provides an authoritative record of changes to public communications, similar to the way blockchain keeps a record of transaction for advertisements.

Official news releases that incorporate Full Transparency are tracked on the blockchain ledger, so news releases or statements can be treated as authoritative.

The Full Transparency initiative is an extension of Citizen Verizon, a responsible business plan that drives economic, environmental and social advancement by promoting technology as a tool to improve communities, education and the workforce.