As internet users, we consume unverified inaccurate data every day. We are living in an era where issues of trust and disinformation are more prominent than ever before. Earlier this month, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report was published, which found that a vast number of news consumers around the world felt they were being fed false stories, with many as 49% of news consumers in Turkey believing they had been exposed to fake news in the last week.

Following the 2016 presidential elections during which the Russians allegedly created divisions among the US electorate through Facebook advertising, questions arose relating to the power of social media advertising and the responsibilities of the leading tech companies that hold our data, when it comes to cracking down on unverified information. Digital technology abuses are impacting every aspect of our lives, from our interactions with friends and family to the fabric of our democracy.

The continuation of Facebook’s troubles, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal earlier this year muddied the waters further, when issues arose regarding manipulation of users stemming from the reckless mishandling of their data. The public was outraged that users’ private information was being used against them, and their friends, without their permission.

Should we look to governments for help?

This is an incredibly complex issue and all types of legislative bodies are wrestling with the best ways in which to regulate the ad industry and protect users, one great example being the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The GDPR, EU privacy regulation, which took effect on May 25th, 2018 states that the user is the owner their personal information, that digital companies must gain user consent to utilize this data, and that they must make an electronic copy available to the user free of charge.

This legislation is a great first move for helping ensure that users can protect their personal information and create greater transparency across the ad industry.

So, what’s the next step?

The Liberdy Data Foundation is a non-profit organization that is hoping to create a more transparent and accountable advertising economy. The Foundation leverages the power of the GDPR and blockchain technology to create a more secure, open and democratic system that puts the user first and pays them for the use of their data. The user is in control over what advertising they are exposed to and who can use their personal information. At the same time, advertisers now have access to a deep pool of verifiable, wholly accurate, consent-based data that was not previously accessible outside the walled gardens of Google and Facebook.

It works like this. The Foundation’s app extracts a digital copy of the user’s data from the online companies like Google and Facebook that already harvest our information every time we post a comment, like a group, search for, or buy a product online. The app then segments and anonymizes the data, purging it of personal identifiers. As a blockchain based initiative, users can be assured of the privacy and security of their data, since as a decentralized system the information is dispersed across the network, making it almost completely unhackable, and not under the control of any single entity.

The significance here is that as users gain control over their data, they are not just being financially rewarded for their personal information but are ensuring that is not being shared randomly with multiple parties. Liberdy also protects user data by means of an anonymous login for third party sites, enabling secure, depersonalized online interactions, without their having to reveal identifiable, personal information.

The publisher benefits by being able to incentivize the user to provide their consent. They also gain access to a wealth of reliable data so they can more effectively market value- added services and premium subscriptions.

The advertiser wins, by gaining access to verified, accurate and up-to-date first-hand data from a cross-section of data sources including online retailers, social media, search engines and more. The integrated data also enables cross-device tracking for highly secure and precise targeting.

By means of the LIB Coin, the token that powers the Data Foundation platform, Liberdy has forged a self-sustaining, contained economy that promotes a fair, decentralized and democratized Ad-tech ecosystem, where user privacy is assured, and data accuracy is guaranteed.

The Data Foundation is an open source project with an end-to-end infrastructure of API’s and protocols that allow for smooth, simple data integration and completely transparent interactions.

The amount of unverifiable data we consume and with which we are directly targeted every single day is growing exponentially. The answer lies in a self-contained economy that offers transparency and accountability, by transferring control out of the hands of big corporations and placing it in the hands of users. We now have the technology, with the emergence of the blockchain to solve this issue. The important work the Liberdy Data Foundation is doing for Ad-tech, can serve as a beacon to other industries, looking to restore our faith and provide a trustworthy experience in the digital space.

To learn more check out Liberdy.io, join our communities via Telegram,Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin to get the latest updates, or email us at info@liberdy.io