Is Authenticity an Effective Antidote to Misinformation?

Abstract

The growing impact of false and misleading information is a cause for concern. Some have suggested an authenticity crisis as the cause, namely, the fact that we can no longer be certain of the source and integrity of a particular piece of information. To fix this, the ubiquitous use of digital signatures has been proposed to (re)establish the authenticity of information. We argue that this is unlikely to curb the impact of misinformation for several reasons. First, little evidence suggests that more authenticity could theoretically solve part of the misinformation problem. In fact, the implied use of signatures as a proxy for veracity is fundamentally problematic. Second, there are significant barriers to the practical implementation of ubiquitous signing. Lastly, we point out potential negative side effects. We conclude that authenticity is not effective in countering misinformation.