Carly Lyddiard
If #Mastodon stabilises in the broader world, I'm wondering how we might verify news sources. Would each media org set up an instance for their reporters maybe, so we can tell them apart from imposters? I can't imagine an independently moderated "news" instance without the verification process being open to bias or misuse.
Apr 8, 2017 at 2:00amAmaroq
Show threadAndrew Roach ✅Apr 8, 2017

@carly_io Each news outlet that used Mastodon would publically list their mastodon handle and instance. That alone would be enough. Just somewhere off Mastodon where they verify their Mastodon identity.

That's it.

Show threadMichael_SpencerApr 8, 2017
@carly_io I like the way your mind works on this topic. I'm unclear what journalists would do here exactly. It feels like though, when networks becomes sources of news, that's a signal that their "social" element has died...
Show threadMichael Selsky ✳️Apr 8, 2017
@carly_io That's actually not a bad idea. Very similar to how we would trust their email accounts. I would find @[email protected] to be more reputable than @[email protected]
Show threadCarly LyddiardApr 8, 2017
@Selsky Me too. I wonder if we'll get to the point of seeing how that unfolds. It'll be interesting.
Show threadinmysocks (version: awoo)Apr 8, 2017

@carly_io that doesn't really fit with what mastodon is. There is no real method of verification or anything like that.

This isn't twitter and probably can't be made to be like twitter in that way.

Show threadCarly LyddiardApr 8, 2017
@inmysocks *nod* I understand and don't want it to be like the birdplace. Speaking broadly, a person will want to be able to verify the source of information when that source claims to be reputable. People will try to find ways to do that on any platform where media orgs publish. I suspect it would be achieved in mastodon's universe by media orgs running their own instances so we can identify their reporters by instance name. I'm interested to see if/how it happens.
Show threadDjypApr 8, 2017
@carly_io Do you believe the twitter community is verifying news sources? If you're talking about making sure an account is official there would be a couple easy ways to certify that.