A new Warsaw-based startup Userfeeds, built on Ethereum, is aiming to apply blockchain tokens to combat ‘fake news’ by offering an economic incentive to rank content well, Tech Crunch reported.

By linking the blockchain to social content, Userfeeds is applying the methods and principles of bitcoin and Ethereum in order to create transparent and publicly auditable content networks and ranking algorithms that utilize digital tokens as ranking signals.

There is a gap in the content ranking system and discovery on the web using links, upvotes, likes and so on, since algorithms are gamed by third parties like fake news providers, in order to change what people see on social media. This has resulted social media platforms like Facebook ranking fake news higher than real news. Userfeeds addresses this, by creating an audit trail to content using the blockchain.

The startup’s new and first product ‘Userfeeds Engine’ creates new business models for publishers and app developers outside of advertising & subscriptions. It also enables users and developers to run custom rankings to produce search results, information feeds, sponsored links, top 10 lists, among others. The product builds natural economic barriers that can prevent trolling, spam and cost-free abuse.

The startup team comprise of co-founder and CEO Maciej Olpinski, who has experience in working with Google and YouTube in their ad product and business organizations. Other experts in the team include co-founder and CTO Greg Kapkowski, a senior software engineer with experience and patents in metadata aggregation algorithms, among others.