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PUBLISH Inc., a blockchain-based media solutions company, has announced the launch of an ‘onchain’ news article notarization service in beta.
Starting today, August 23, the company will initially test the blockchain-based system on blockchain media outlet TokenPost Korea with plans to gradually extend it to the member companies of PUBLISHalliance – a blockchain media consortium led by PUBLISH.
The article notarization system is accessible through PUBLISHsoft – a blockchain-based content management and end-to-end publishing system, announced in December 2018.
During the beta testing phase, all news articles on TokenPost Korea can be posted on the blockchain. Currently, articles are published on an EOS testnet for testing purposes.
The blockchain hash value is displayed on the top of each article, along with the ‘onchain’ badge. By clicking on the hyperlinked hash value, readers are able to check the full text of the article on the blockchain and key information such as the initial creation time and the last edit time. If the article is modified, the hash value is updated, indicating that the content has been edited. While only the most up-to-date version of the article is displayed on TokenPost, a history of articles versions can be viewed through a block explorer, effectively rendering the news content immutable.
PUBLISH said that the trial has been launched as part of its efforts to fight the growing problem of fake news around the world, which can have grave ramifications. The onchain badge lets readers know, mathematically, that a news item originates from a given publisher.
Last year, the company launched PUBLISHprotocol – an EOS blockchain-based media protocol and platform that aims to incentivize global cooperation of readers, writers, and editors to join publishers in proliferating good journalism. Its PUBLISHalliance initiative is tasked with the development and proliferation of PUBLISHprotocol and already counts more than 40 media and corporations as its members, attracting over 1 billion views per month.
PUBLISH has also announced its plans to launch an article fact-checking system, which rewards fact-checkers in cryptocurrency based on their reputation level and fact-checking duties.
The company believes that this initiative can encourage the production of responsible content based on facts and a virtuous culture in the media industry as a whole.
