AFP news agency and Dalet aim to integrate C2PA Content Credentials into video production workflows, giving editorial teams context to make informed decisions without losing speed.
Global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Dalet are working together to strengthen content provenance and authenticity across the news media ecosystem. The partnership was announced at the Media Provenance Summit in Bergen, Norway.
The collaboration intends to brings together AFP's early work applying C2PA Content Credentials to editorial content, with Dalet's experience in supporting the workflows news organisations use to create, manage and distribute content. Interest in developing the project arose during the 2024 US presidential election, when AFP's photo department conducted a proof of concept (POC) demonstrating how provenance information could accompany editorial content.
Content Provenance and C2PA
Content provenance is the recorded history of a piece of digital content, from the moment of creation through all modifications or uses that follow. C2PA developed a technical standard called Content Credentials to capture and preserve content provenance. The Credentials are tamper-evident, cryptographically signed data structures that travel with the asset and can be used to verify the authenticity and integrity of digital media.
Content Credentials can include information, secured cryptographically, about content creation methods, the tools and processes used, when and where it was made, and how it has changed over time.
Embedding Trust and Governance
Dalet is promoting an approach in which provenance information is integrated directly into operational workflows. It would mean that, as news workflows evolve, provenance and human oversight remain embedded throughout the content lifecycle. It also gives editorial teams the context needed to make informed decisions without losing the speed required for modern news production.
"The agency believes content authenticity is a major issue in a world where AI-generated content may damage the public's confidence in images circulating online and in the news media," said Guillaume Meyer, AFP deputy news director in charge of video. Article 50 of the EU's AI Act requires only that generated content be marked as such since August 2026. AFP wants to go further, stating that all content – both AI and non-AI – would benefit from watermarking to maintain the public's trust in the media. In effect, C2PA adds a verifiable certificate to real field journalism.
AFP news director Phil Chetwynd also said, "It is urgent that the media find a way to help people navigate an increasingly complex information ecosystem. The C2PA project has the potential to raise trust levels in quality content by clearly identifying provenance. This is an encouraging step forward."
C2PA Implementation
AFP and Dalet will collaborate on ways to implement the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard within video encoding and distribution workflows. Engineers from both organisations will develop a fully functional POC, scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2027. The POC will demonstrate how C2PA Content Credentials can be applied to video in a way that allows news agencies to deliver content to broadcasters with a verifiable record of its origin and history.
The joint AFP-Dalet project will also examine the commercial and legal considerations associated with implementing C2PA at scale. Erwan Kerfourn, Head of Product at Dalet, remarked, "Trustworthy news depends not only on the journalism itself, but also on the integrity of the workflows that carry it from the field to the audience.
"Provenance cannot sit outside the production process or be treated as an afterthought. By working with AFP, we are embedding verifiable content history into the workflows news organisations use every day, giving editorial teams greater transparency while keeping people firmly in control of what is published. This is fundamental to protecting journalistic integrity and sustaining audience trust." www.dalet.com
