NFTs as a Weapon Against Disinformation

When each piece of content or news becomes an NFT, we get an important weapon against disinformation. 

At that moment, we are going to be able to collaborate on the same unique shared information. And that is huge.

Currently, if you read an article with some misleading data, you can't attach a link to it with alternative data, for example.

But now with open blockchains, we can.

Imagine you've received an image with the following text: "New Harvard research suggests that weight lifting is harmful to your health".

Assuming that all social media and communication apps will soon be integrated into web3, the very first thing the user could do to fact check this information is to verify whether the content is linked to an NFT or not. If not, they would just disregard it.

On the other side, If the content is on-chain, and the misinformation goes viral, Harvard could attach to the NFT a link to their official site tagging that content as false or misleading, because actually there is no such Harvard research.

And then, each app could have a UX showing the metrics for each content, like the number of linked sources and an open-sourced algorithmically estimated accuracy.

In this case, everyone that receives the Harvard Research image immediately would know that it is false.

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Ok, that was an easy and very simple fact-checking. Even so, it could alone avoid a lot of fake news out there.

But, let's dive into something more complex.

Think about a documentary talking about the perils of Social Media and why everybody should delete their apps (like The Social Dilemma).

Oh, that is a very complex topic. There is no way to fit it in a true or false dichotomy.

At first glance, the whole documentary might seem legit. Several specialists were interviewed, a lot of data, an engaging narrative, and so on.

But wouldn't it be nice to check all counterpoints of the documentary's ideas attached to its NFT, before coming to a conclusion? 

For example, cases where these social media apps help refugees in war zones or how they help the coordination of protesters under authoritarian regimes.

Or yet how marginalized people can, for the first time ever, speak to a very big audience and lead social debates, for free, which was impossible in the mass media era.

These new data can completely change how one sees these technologies and the main idea behind the documentary, right?

And of course, all these attached pieces of information would be evaluated in the same criteria: the number of cryptographically verified sources, official numbers, maybe opinions of specialists with a good track record, and open source algorithms.

Actually, this concept is already being built, as you can see in Balaji’s talk below.

Probably the most controversial subjects, even with this on-chain decentralized fact-checked data, wouldn’t reach the absolute truth. But, at least, people would have access to alternative points of view for every important content they have access to.

If you think NFTs are just JPEGs, it’s time to open your mind.