The authenticity crisis
Open accessAbstract
Authenticity of information is a term with a clear meaning, not in law, but in the area of information security. There, it involves two aspects, called source-authenticity and message-authenticity; they guarantee certainty about the origin of information, and about its integrity. Authenticity differs from veracity: whether information is true (holds) or not is independent of its authenticity. The authenticity crisis described in the title of this paper refers to the destabilising impact of the lack of authenticity of online information, for instance in fake news. The paper proposes systematic use of digital signatures to guarantee authenticity. A crucial point is that authenticity may be organised via technical means (namely via digital signatures), whereas veracity can not. Authenticity-guarantees make institutions recognisable online and provide people with useful tools for making their own credibility judgements.
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Authenticity on the Internet mainly encompasses three dimensions: the integrity and origin of information, the authenticity of interactions, and the verification of identities.
“Authenticity on the Internet mainly encompasses three dimensions: the integrity and origin of information (Jacobs, 2024), the authenticity of interactions, and the verification of identities (Davis, 2019;Dietlin, Loomis, & Preffer, 2019).”
From Beyond Verification| Inauthentic Authenticity: Astroturfing to Generate True Affect Using Fakery (2026) · cites this paper as Jacobs, 2024
Cited by
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Beyond Verification| Inauthentic Authenticity: Astroturfing to Generate True Affect Using Fakery
Alloing, C., Fournier, V., Reid, V., Germain, S., Turbide, O., & Yates, S. (2026) · International Journal of Communication · doi:10.65476/qd17zh66
- Authors
- Jacobs, B.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Jacobs, Bart
- ORCID
- Jacobs, Bart
- Venue
- Computer Law & Security Review
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-07
- Volume
- 53
- Pages
- 105962
- ISSN
- 2212-473X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4394833797
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 4.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Computer law & security review (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Social Sciences › Law › Digitalization, Law, and Regulation
- Keywords
- authenticity of sources, message authenticity, digital signatures, fake news, honesty, information integrity, online credibility, information security
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