Adobe, New York Times Co. and Twitter announce Content Authenticity Initiative

Adobe MAX, Adobe, The New York Times Company and Twitter today announced the Content Authenticity Initiative aimed at developing an industry standard for digital content attribution, according to reports.

Adobe, The New York Times Company and Twitter believe that creating a long-term solution is a shared responsibility among creators, technology, and media companies. This will allow these companies to provide proper content attribution.

“With the proliferation of digital content, people want to know the content they’re seeing is authentic,” said Dana Rao, executive vice president and general counsel, Adobe. “While this is a formidable challenge, we are thrilled to be championing the adoption of an industry-wide content attribution system, along with The New York Times Company and Twitter. It is critical for technology and media companies to come together now in order to empower consumers to better evaluate and understand content online.”

“Discerning trusted news on the internet is one of the biggest challenges news consumers face today,” said Marc Lavallee, head of Research & Development, The New York Times Company. “Combating misinformation will require the entire ecosystem—creators, publishers and platforms—to work together. This initiative lays the groundwork for doing that through open standards and protocols.”

“Serving and enhancing global public conversation is our core mission at Twitter,” said Del Harvey, vice president, Global Trust and Safety, Twitter. “We’re excited to work with Adobe and The New York Times Company to find new and innovative ways to support our existing efforts. Everyone has a role to play in information quality and media literacy. Collaboration on issues as complex as this is key—we welcome the partnership.”

The initiative is expected to start in a couple of months.