You can have your content licensed by FOX

FOX has announced the next phase of development for its open-source protocol for content verification and licensing, Verify. FOX shared that global media brand TIME has come on board as its first external publishing partner, utilizing the Verify protocol as a principal piece of its content licensing and content verification strategy.

FOX released Verify on the public Polygon Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network in January 2024 to establish the origin and history of original journalism by cryptographically signing individual pieces of content on the blockchain, which in turn allows this content to be independently verified by consumers as originating from the trusted publisher they expect, using the Verify tool. Using cryptography, Verify proves content at the source.

Additionally, Verify establishes a technical bridge between media companies and AI platforms. With its Verified Access Point, Verify introduces the possibility of creating new commercial opportunities for content owners by utilizing smart contracts to set programmatic conditions for access to content.

To date, over 300,000 pieces of content from FOX Sports, FOX News, FOX Business, and FOX Television Stations have been signed to the Verify content graph, including both articles and images.

"In TIME, we have found a partner that shares our AI-optimism as well as our commitment to protecting brand equity and authenticity while delivering our content in new and meaningful ways. FOX and TIME are brands that consumers trust, and we look forward to working together to continue to evolve Verify in a way that empowers consumers and content producers and allows this ecosystem to flourish," said Melody Hildebrandt, Chief Technology Officer, Fox Corporation.

"At TIME, we are committed to advancing our mission of providing trusted journalism for our global audience of 120 million people by embracing new innovations and pioneering emerging technologies—from blockchain to AI. TIME is proud to join FOX's Verify as an authenticated source of fact-based journalism at a time when access to trusted information is more important than ever," said TIME Chief Operating Officer Mark Howard.

Based on the positive response and early success, FOX will transition Verify beta from the Polygon PoS network to an independent zero-knowledge (ZK) blockchain on Ethereum using Polygon CDK (Chain Development Kit). Working with Gelato as an implementation provider, Verify will now operate as a ZK-powered blockchain dedicated to content verification. This advanced technology empowers developers to create projects that transparently prove authenticity, enabling faster, easier, and more affordable interactions.

The protocol is open source, with developers and users invited to contribute or fork the source code. Verify was originally developed in-house by the FOX Emerging Technology team but will lean on Gelato to implement a dedicated chain with Polygon CDK.