Blockchain technology for verifying electoral data

Last updated: February 15, 2024 6:16 pm EST | 6 minute read

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This year, more than 60 countries around the world will hold national and regional elections 2024 will be the most important election year in history. But there are growing concerns about this misinformation and disinformation driven largely by artificial intelligence (AI) will influence the elections.

An example of this occurred recently when an AI-enabled call using US President Joe Biden’s voice he called thousands of people in the United States

Results of the World Economic Forum Global Risk Report 2024 they also show that misinformation and disinformation are likely to be one of the main global risks in the next two years.

The report states that “both foreign and domestic actors will exploit disinformation and disinformation to widen social and political divisions.”

The report also highlights that this risk will be even greater given that there will be a large number of elections in the near future, as more than 3 billion people will go to the polls in 2024 and 2025.

Blockchain leveraged for data verification

Although misleading information poses a major global threat, industry experts have highlighted this Blockchain technology can play an important role in fighting this challenge.

Paul Brody, global head of blockchain for Ernst & Young (EY), told Cryptonews that, like many people, he believes this year could break records for fake news.

That said, Brody explained that EY has created a blockchain-based traceability solution called “OpsChain” that performs document authentication through a series of APIs.

“OpsChain runs on the public Ethereum infrastructure,” Brody said. “The solution hashes and timestamps documents, placing that information on the blockchain for verification.”

Brody shared that OpsChain is currently leveraged by ANSA, an Italian news agency that generates over 1 million articles per year. According to a EY blog post, when a publisher publishes a news story on ANSA, it is entered into the OpsChain system with an ID and publication details. All this information is stored as files immutable block on Ethereum.

When an article is published online, it includes an “ANSACheck” sticker, which allows readers to see who wrote the article and whether it has been republished.

“Readers can take the full text from an ANSA article and verify that it is original,” Brody said.

This is important, as Brody added that the same process can be applied to election data.

“When you put data into a public ecosystem, you want it to be verifiable independent from other parties. EY’s goal is to make this easier by using APIs,” he said. “This allows any entity to create timestamps for data on the Ethereum blockchain. All transactions are confirmed within 15 seconds of execution.” .

The role of cryptography for data verification

David Sneider, co-founder of Lit Protocol, told Cryptonews that cryptographic signatures can also be used to verify data.

Sneider explained that Lit Protocol, a distributed key management network, does this by leveraging “multi-party calculation (MPC) secret threshold schemes” to cryptographically sign documents and other items.

“’Secret Multi-Party Computing (MPC) Threshold Schemes’ essentially means taking key material and splitting it into different parts so that no centralized custodian can access it,” Sneider said. “In the case of the Lit protocol, 20 out of 30 node operators can generate permission to use the underlying key to sign something for data verification.”

Sneider explained that Lit Protocol partners using the technology are known as “issuers,” since they have access to the decentralized key. These issuers can then create verifiable credentials or prove that the data is accurate.

“One of our ecosystem partners is using the Lit protocol to cryptographically assert that a cryptocurrency address is associated with a particular Twitter account,” Sneider noted.

Additionally, the Starling Lab for Data Integrity at Stanford University applies the Lit protocol to journalism data verification and privacy.

“Journalists in areas subject to censorship can privately and anonymously publish media content in places where the Internet is restricted,” Sneider said.

While this solution is not applied to election data, Sneider pointed out that it can be used to ensure that publications or videos come from election candidates or government officials.

Interestingly, White House Special Advisor on Artificial Intelligence Ben Buchanan recently said this US government officials are exploring cryptographic verification methods to combat deep fakes.

Additionally, Sneider said blockchain can be applied to cryptographic signature to act as a timestamp on when data was actually verified.

“A blockchain is a global clock that allows us to create a timestamp and proof when certain content, for example, has been published,” he said.

Fingerprint for data verification

While blockchain and cryptography offer immutable data verification, other emerging technologies are also stepping in to combat misinformation. Fingerprinting arose as one such solution that can be combined with blockchain technology, providing a way to distinctly identify and authenticate content. As the election approaches, these methods could prove critical in supporting data integrity in organizations and media.

Mariale Montenegro, founder and CEO of Mentaport, told Cryptonews that Mentaport is using such technology to ensure data verification. According to Montenegro, Mentaport uses fingerprinting technology to embed a unique identifier in content metadata.

“This identifier is securely linked to the blockchain, creating an unalterable certificate that authenticates the origin, ownership and authenticity of the content,” Montenegro said.

Although Mentaport is still in the private beta phase, Montenegro explained that a news organization could use the solution to verify content.

“Before publication, the content is sent to the Mentaport platform, where it is analyzed and certified as authentic,” he said. “The certification, along with the content metadata, is then recorded on the blockchain.”

Once data is entered onto the blockchain, Montenegro explained that readers can verify the authenticity of the content via Mentaport, as everything placed on the blockchain is transparent and open.

While the same may apply to election-generated content, Montenegro explained that the decision to move from private beta to a broader rollout will be based on ensuring the technology not only meets, but exceeds the expectations of current users and stakeholders .

Will Government Agencies Leverage Blockchain Solutions?

While the potential for blockchain-based solutions is clear, the question remains whether government agencies involved in upcoming elections will want to leverage this technology.

“The primary obstacle we face today is that government agencies, particularly campaign organizations, are unwilling to adopt cutting-edge technology,” Brody said.

While Brody said it’s reasonable to be hesitant about new technologies, he stressed that he hopes to see greater adoption this year due to the growing amount of false information.

Sneider added that despite the White House’s interest in cryptographic verification, standards have yet to be developed.

According to Sneider, this is currently underway as he shared that the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) is implementing rules in relation to authenticity and provenance.

“This will be more usable for creators and publishers in the coming months,” he said.

However, even with the standards in place, Sneider believes another challenge will arise when it becomes commonplace for documents to be cryptographically signed for verification.

“If everything published is cryptographically signed, the question may arise: just because the data is signed, does that mean it is authentic? Someone should verify who signed the data and where the cryptographic key is,” Sneider said.

Furthermore, although blockchain verification processes are efficient, the technology is not always easy to use. Brody pointed out that this is why EY currently leverages an API model.

“OpsChain has actually been around for years, but EY recently moved to an all-API model to make it easier for others to adopt and test,” he said.

Sneider said Fox Corporation also uses the Lit Protocol verification process and authenticity check.

This has also been reported Fox partnered with Polygon Labs to use Verifywhich is an open source platform designed to verify the authenticity of content and monitor its usage across the web.

Sneider believes similar methods will be adopted across various companies and products in the future.

“If we end up in a world with more generative fakes, this model will be part of the browsing experience,” he said. “Websites will show the source of the content in their feeds, instead of asking people to visit a completely different website to see the verification.”

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