US Election 2020: An upvote for decentralized media and Web 3.0

With distrust in the motives of media companies and their content at all-time highs, the run-up to the next US election will draw users to more autonomous sources of information to counter the ‘fake news’ plaguing both traditional and social media.

The decentralized media (DeMe) assets covered in the BNC Research report "ELECTION 2020:
The war on fake news, an opportunity for decentralized media" have all seen strong performances in the year to April. Basic Attention Token (BAT), for example, is up 70% and STEEM ~30%. In part this can be attributed to the broader altcoin recovery. However, for investors there is also a reasonable strategy in riding the coattails of the fake news, big tech and social media backlash that several presidential candidates are also using as policy springboards.

Facebook is also preparing for the US election with a PR campaign jumping on the blockchain and "decentralization" trend, giving an illusion of Mark Zuckerberg ceding some power. In the US, 44% of adults get their news from Facebook.

The current ad revenue-driven media economy of Web 2.0 is inherently at odds with the interests of democracy and truthful information as engagement metrics measure the quantity of attention captured, not its quality, so there are few incentives to produce quality information.

New blockchain models of information dissemination, called curation markets, which aren’t driven by algorithms but by humans with skin in the game could prevent the spread of viral misinformation through:

• self-sovereign user identity logins before posting

• staking assets and/or user reputation on the quality of information or data shared

• putting a cost on the spread of false viral content and bots

• permanence of content and reputation recorded on blockchain removes moral hazard

With monetary incentives for users and creators to curate quality content and more feedback options than just upvotes or downvotes, DeMe can increase the signal-to-noise ratio (quality over quantity of content), reduce echo chambers and replace the top-down editorial agenda set by billionaire media moguls with an organic informational model. Requiring users to log into media and social media platforms with self-sovereign identity Dapps would also cut down on fake accounts, trolls and bots.

This BNC Research report unpacks the constituent components and investment opportunities presented by promising blockchain media projects, while looking at the broader macro trends in demographics, sentiment and politics that could bolster them. It also looks at the risks and obstacles that stand in the way of Web 3.0 and examines how the incumbent big tech firms are inherently against decentralization.

With fake news and the policies around breaking up big tech high on the presidential political agenda, investors should certainly have DeMe assets on their radar.

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ELECTION 2020: The war on fake news, an opportunity for decentralized media.

As the groundswell of public opinion turns against the ‘big media’ status quo, a new BNC Research report profiles the opportunities and contenders in Web 3.0’s new decentralized media model.

// Access the full report here