Using blockchain to combat censorship
You may have read the story lately about the Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, that was shut down. In response, cyber activists in Hong Kong started uploading documents and articles from the newspaper to a censorship-proof blockchain, so that the articles from the newspaper could live on forever.
Unfortunately, there have been many media crackdowns recently, including in Turkey, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cracked down on critical media outlets; and in Uganda, where reports emerged of government crackdowns on media outlets critical of the government. There have also been plenty of examples of governments censoring posts on social media outlets, or shutting them down all together.
At a time when freedom of press is being challenged all over the world, and where authoritarian forces are emerging in many democratic strongholds, the availability of this technology is increasingly important.
What makes blockchain so special when it comes to preserving information, such as critical media sources? Well, as highlighted above, the primary benefit of this technology is that it is truly censor-proof. By storing information on an immutable blockchain, it means that it is truly tamper proof. Unlike a social media platform that governments could easily regulate of even shut down, as has been seen many times before, they simply cannot do this with a blockchain, as they don’t have the power.
By their very nature, most blockchains are decentralized, meaning that no one individual or entity has the power to take control of it, thus making it extremely difficult to tamper with. Governments would not be able to go on and simply erase something from a blockchain. Within a blockchain, vital documents, pictures, movies, article, and audio, could live-on forever.
For example, in a situation where individuals are protesting against measures taken by governments, or are fighting to maintain their rights, a blockchain-based platform could be created where pictures, documents, and videos could be stored, in a way in which they could not be taken down by the governments they are protesting. This could make it easier to document potentially violent measures being taken by authorities in response to the protest and broadcast them to outside observers.
A blockchain-based platform would truly be in the hands of the people, and its immutable nature makes it a perfect fit to combat censorship.
What role do you think blockchain could play in helping combat censorship? Tweet us at @Crypto_Altruism, we’d love to hear from you!
