This project has received 75.000 euros from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement No 957228 (see https://www.trublo.eu/ for details).

Our society is both technology-based and data-driven since it relies on the exchange of information through trustworthy communication media. As recently pointed out by the European Commission in the Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation released on the 16th of June 2022, “open democratic societies depend on public debates that allow well-informed citizens to express their will through free and fair political processes“. Hence, public debate can be considered, in this sense, the pinnacle of a complex interaction among three kinds of subjects.

First, governments bear the obligation of protecting fundamental rights (balancing, among others, privacy and freedom of expression).

Second, social media platforms, whose technological control allows them to manipulate the behaviour and beliefs of customers.

Third, users often aggregate in communities sharing interests, practices and experiences. Professional content creators play a difficult role in this scenario since they are required not only to abide by the laws but also to adapt to the terms of service imposed by the platforms while releasing their materials and to build an audience through credibility.

Despite the importance of their rule, journalists (media professionals in general) lack specific and effective tools that allow them to ensure the authentication or integrity of the content produced, as well as to collect from persons of interest easily (e.g. an interviewed) the consent for using their personal data or their copyright license (e.g. protected materials). Consequently, those who are involved in the news released are often unaware of their own rights, incapable of exercising them or incapacitated to raise legal claims or request restoration, especially with respect to data protection and privacy.

TRUTHSTER aims to support media professionals by providing them with an easy tool for certifying the creation of media content requiring the interaction with a user (e.g. an interview) and generating semi-automated legal disclaimers and licenses.

• Certification through «proof of validity» as empowerment of professional media content creators and, so, of freedom of expression. Truthster aims at supporting media professionals, automating and streamlining the generation of licenses by copyright owners and disclaimers by data subjects;
• Smart contracts as a way to raise transparency and protect persons of interest (interviewed data protection). Truthster aims to support rights’ owners (e.g. an institution, a company, a journalist, a photographer, a director, a film production or a private individual) providing evidence of ownership of the media released (e.g. an image, a video, an interview, an article) together with disclaimers and, in case, a self-certification, so reducing the risk of legal controversies due to false claims of abusive reproduction of copyrighted materials.
• Decentralized infrastructure (Alastria) as a trusted platform for balancing fundamental rights. Truthster aims to provide an easy way to unmask counterfeited digital artefacts (e.g. deepfakes’), due to the certification of the genuine ones.
• Participative governance to ensure the uptake of the technology and the management of the system. Truthster aims to involve institutions, professional associations and communities, allowing the creation of a trusted ecosystem through a trust-less platform.
• Open innovation to ensure the growth of the ecosystem. Truthster aims at digitalizing the negotiation of consent and licenses in order to reduce the environmental impact while allowing the possible integration with other professional services (cloud storage services, NFT marketplace, online ADR mediation).