Fox Corp. today announced the beta release of an open-source protocol built on the Polygon proof-of-stake network, to help media companies prove the provenance of content.

The protocol, called Verify, will allow publishers to register content on-chain, in order to prove origination, according to its website.

“Verify shows how blockchains are important outside of financial use cases: they can prove provenance, track the origination of content online,” Polygon Labs CEO Mark Boiron said on X. “Given the natural fit of blockchains with content provenance with the rise of AI, I’m excited to see Polygon protocols again being used at the forefront of another new use case.”

When a user verifies a piece of content with Verify, they cryptographically sign with their private key. The verifier can also add metadata like the location, device, or person, associated with a piece of content.

Content Ownership

This doesn’t prove ownership in itself, but it does allow for “public dispute and interrogation of content metadata,” says Verify’s documentation. After verification, the user can designate access to content through smart contracts.

The development signals that media companies consider the blockchain a worthwhile medium to combat the explosion of AI-generated content which spread across the internet in 2023.

Verify isn’t the first time Fox has dedicated resources to blockchain-native experiences — a subsidiary, Fox Animated Series, released a TV show last fall which came with NFT and voting components. The media conglomerate has also been delving into AI with RabbitAI, a GPT-4-powered mobile feature for finding content, launching last September.

So far, 89,000 pieces of content have been registered, according to a press release from Polygon