Sourcing truth in conflict

In the past several weeks, the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine has led to widespread destruction, a growing refugee crisis, and the tragic loss of innocent life. At the Content Authenticity Initiative, we, like many around the world, have witnessed and been shocked by the horrific images of violence stemming from this unjustified attack.

While citizen journalists have shared many important photos and videos helping us understand what is really happening, we have also seen misinformation being used to create false perceptions from fake realities. At the conflict’s onset, a widely circulated video purportedly showing a Ukrainian girl confronting Russian soldiers was later identified as a 2012 video from the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Recently, hackers placed a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appearing to tell his soldiers to lay down their arms on a Ukrainian news site, before it was debunked and removed; And a deepfake video in which Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to declare peace has resurfaced on social media.

Our goal with the Content Authenticity (CAI) is to give people a place to go to find content they can trust. Whether citizen journalists capturing content on mobile phones or professional photojournalists documenting the war, anyone could use the CAI technology to show the world the provenance of their images. Then the public could view those images with confidence, knowing that transparency is at their fingertips to check where an image came from and what edits were made to it along the way. With technology like CAI incorporated across our digital content ecosystem, any images or videos without a CAI tag would be viewed with skepticism, as they could be fake. In just three years, we have seen tremendous momentum and clear alignment around this approach, with over 600 members joining the CAI, and standards body C2PA publishing a first open technical standard on content authenticity.

While we wish the CAI technology was already widely available to help prevent the spread of dangerous mistruths, ongoing misinformation around this conflict has underscored the present need for media skepticism. It’s important that each of us does our part to be careful and thoughtful about what we see and hear, and what we choose to share. Otherwise, misinformation can not only cause people to believe lies, but it can also stop people from believing the truth.

As we work towards widespread implementation and public awareness of the CAI technology, our members are standing up their own efforts to diligently fact-check misinformation regarding the invasion in Ukraine: 

• First Draft has compiled top tips and tools on how to be an informed consumer of media, which is being promoted by Twitter 
• AFP is fact-checking 
• Truepic’s VP of Public Affairs & Impact wrote an op-ed on social media content in times of war 
• BBC has reported on Russian misinformation and false imagery represented on social media 
• WITNESS shared a guide for capturing video of human rights violations (translated in English here).   

We all hope for a quick resolution to the violence and bloodshed that is happening every day. Our thoughts go out to the victims and families affected by this unnecessary war.