Technology Designed to Increase Public Trust in Broadcast News while Reducing Societal Risk of AI-Generated Disinformation<br><br>
San Diego, August 21, 2024 – Verance, a global watermarking company that powers AI provenance and broadband features for broadcast television, today announced the availability of technology to combat deep fakes and AI-generated disinformation using open watermarking standards.
The solution enables social media platforms to authenticate broadcast content in user uploads, enhancing public trust in media and reducing the societal risks of disinformation. It uses Verance Aspect® to enable broadcast content to be reliably authenticated by social media platforms, devices and disinformation analysts.
The technology stems from fully open watermarking standards developed and published by the U.S.-based broadcast standards organization ATSC and the provenance authentication technology standards consortium C2PA. Each standards organization has broad participation across the global media, technology and consumer electronics sectors.
Using these industry standards, broadcast adopters of Verance Aspect can enable recipients of their content to determine whether it has been modified, as well as to locate an authentic version of the published asset. This validation step, which can be fully automated, allows the recipient to determine whether the media seen misrepresents what was originally broadcast.
Major broadcasters across the U.S., including Graham Media Group, Gray Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Capitol Broadcasting Company have already deployed ATSC watermarking using Verance Aspect. ATSC watermarking has also been incorporated into the DVB and HbbTV interactive television specifications, which are used in dozens of countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands.
Additionally, C2PA is beginning to be adopted as a means of authenticating content on social media platforms, with LinkedIn and TikTok having recently announced plans to use it to authenticate media uploaded by users.
Verance Aspect employs ATSC watermarking to access C2PA manifest services for broadcast content. C2PA authentication requires signed metadata that cannot be transmitted through existing content distribution paths. ATSC watermarking enables recipients of broadcast content to locate the absent C2PA metadata by embedding imperceptible URLs throughout the broadcast audio and video that survives any distribution path.
The ATSC watermark standards have supported metadata-driven solutions like C2PA since their inception in 2017. The recent release of C2PA specifications (v2.1) introduces support for watermark-based recovery of C2PA metadata and identifies ATSC watermarking as a compatible technology.
This standards-based approach enables broadcasters and platforms to create interoperable implementations of the underlying technologies, encouraging global cooperation on addressing disinformation challenges accelerated by rapid deployment of powerful generative AI systems.
Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, said, “Concern about deep fakes in the media is a growing concern for the public and political leaders. Good news: the broadcast industry proactively addressed this issue years ago and it’s being implemented now. The NextGen TV ecosystem provides consumers with security assurance for over-the-air television broadcasts. Extending that assurance to social media and web browsing using ATSC watermarking and C2PA provenance is an essential next step to maintain consumer trust in broadcast news.”
David Burke, Senior Vice President and CTO of Gray Television, said, “At Gray, we believe in the power of trustworthy journalism. By integrating Verance Aspect watermarking with C2PA standards, we’re not just protecting our content; we’re reinforcing the credibility of broadcast news in an age where AI-driven misinformation is a significant threat. This technology is an important part of ensuring the public receives verified, unaltered information.”
“As AI continues to evolve, so too must our strategies for safeguarding the truth. This collaboration is significant as the industry battles against disinformation,” said, Christina Hartman, Vice President and Head of Scripps News for the E.W. Scripps Company. Scripps works with Verance through its relationship with Pearl.
Mike Kralec, SVP and Chief Technology Officer for Sinclair, said, “Ensuring our viewers have the highest confidence in our programming is critical to our business. We believe C2PA, through its ability to authenticate the name of content creators or distribution services, can play a central role in future end-to-end technical architectures and workflows. We applaud C2PA and Verance for recognizing that authentication of creators and distributors is absolutely essential to the advanced workflows our industry will rely on in the future.”
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to cooperate with C2PA and our membership on extending the use of ATSC standards to ensure that broadcast content can be presented to viewers with an assurance of authenticity,” added ATSC President Madeleine Noland.
Nil Shah, CEO of Verance, said, “These tools we are providing to enable reliable authentication of broadcast news content through open standards like ATSC watermarking and C2PA provenance are essential. They represent a significant step toward maintaining public trust and ensuring the integrity of the information that shapes our world in this contentious election year and beyond.”
About Pearl TV
Pearl TV is a business organization of U.S. broadcast companies with a shared interest in exploring forward-looking broadcasting opportunities, including innovative ways of promoting local broadcast TV content and developing digital media and wireless platforms for the broadcast industry. Pearl’s membership, comprising more than 820 TV stations, includes eight of the largest broadcast companies in America: Cox Media Group, Graham Media Group, Gray Television, Hearst Television Inc., Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the E.W. Scripps Company, and TEGNA Inc.
About ATSC
ATSC, the Broadcast Standards Association, is an international, non-profit organization developing voluntary standards and recommended practices for digital terrestrial broadcasting. Serving as an essential force in the broadcasting industry, ATSC guides the seamless integration of broadcast and telecom standards to drive the industry forward. Currently, the ATSC 3.0 Standard is providing the best possible solution for expanding the potential of the broadcast spectrum beyond its traditional application to meet changing needs. From conventional television to innovative digital data services, ATSC has one clear goal: to empower the broadcasting ecosystem like never before. For more information, visit www.atsc.org.
About Verance
Verance® Aspect® is a global watermarking platform that powers broadband features on broadcast television by enabling sports betting, dynamic advertising, and interactivity across all screens and distribution paths. Aspect supports new and existing industry standards including ATSC 3.0 and HbbTV and works in today’s ATSC 1.0 broadcasting environment. Leading programmers across the United States including FOX, Graham, Gray, Sinclair, PBS affiliates, and Capitol Broadcasting have deployed Aspect.
Verance’s AI watermark solutions as well as content measurement and enhancement technologies are at the forefront of innovation and set the industry standard for television, movies, and music. Our watermarks have been adopted by over 100 leading technology and entertainment companies and deployed in over 500 million consumer products worldwide. For more information, visit: http://www.verance.com
Contact for Verance:
Verance Public Relations
pr@verance.com
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