Reporters Without Borders
2022
The Truth Wins
Blockchain for press freedom
Censored journalism, made permanent and uncensorable.
Core concept team. Then the making, as Digital Creative Lead at Hyperinteractive: the blockchain archive and the site.
Made withReporters Without Borders, DDB Germany, Hyperinteractive · with Tobias Natterer, Sandro Heierli, Dieter Pries · and 41 others
- Year
- 2022
- Client
- Reporters Without Borders
- Role
- Creative Lead, Hyperinteractive
- Live
- Visit project ↗
- Also on
- ArabAd (full credits) ↗
01
Problem
Authoritarian regimes routinely scrub journalism from the public record. By the time a censored article is widely shared, the source is already gone.
02
Idea
Use the immutability of public blockchains as a safe house for journalism. Once a story is on-chain, it can't be deleted by any actor — including the platform that hosts it.
03
Execution
Built at Hyperinteractive with DDB Germany and Reporters Without Borders. Launched on World Day Against Cyber Censorship. National lottery numbers from Russia, Turkey, and Brazil were repurposed as access codes — typed into Twitter's search to surface accounts archiving censored articles on Ethereum and IPFS. Permanent. Uncensorable.
04
Impact
Featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Adweek, Campaign US, The Drum, LBB, and Shots. Recognized at Cannes Lions, Clio, One Show, D&AD, and ADC.
Recognition
Cannes Lions
Bronze · SDG Lions (2023)
Clio
Silver · Public Relations — Cause Related (2023)
One Show
Silver Pencil · Social Media (2023)
ADC
Bronze Cube · Design for Good (2023)
D&AD
Shortlist · PR / Digital & Social (2023)
Press
- The New York Times
- Forbes
- Adweek ↗
- Campaign US ↗
- The Drum ↗
- LBB ↗
- Shots ↗
- AdForum ↗
Full credits45 credited +−
Reporters Without Borders
- Christian Mihr · Managing Director
- Kristin Bässe · Media and Public Relations Officer
- Lisa Dittmer · Advocacy Officer for Internet Freedom
- Jennifer Braunschweig · Assistant for Press Relations
DDB
- Diana Sukopp · Chief Creative Officer
- Tim Wettstein · Chief Creative Officer
- Patrik Lenhart · Former Executive Creative Director
- Bruno Damiao · Senior Creative Director
- Thomas Koch · Senior Creative Director
- Sandro Heierli · Senior Art Director and Project Lead
- Tobias Natterer · Senior Copywriter and Project Lead
- Amaia Sarriguren · Art Director
- Joana Vinheiro · Art Director
- Edward Jasion · Award Manager
- Donna Tobin · Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
- Jemima Monies · Chief Marketing and Operations Officer
- Rachel Geraghty · PR Director
- Lindsay Bennett · Global Head of Marketing
- Marianna Eboli · Global Social Media Manager
Hyperinteractive (digital innovation studio)
- Dieter Pries · Innovation Director
- Saurabh Kakade · Digital Creative Lead
- Pavel Larionov · Creative Technologist
- Maxim Pries · Lead Developer
- Hernán Lozano Guerrero · Digital Designer
- Judith Freiberger · Visual Designer
- Diogo Borges · Project Manager
- Amarnath Jayanti · Web3 and NFT Advocate
- Siddhant Shrivastava · Web3 and Security Advocate
- Samuel He · Journalist and Web3 Native
Dahouse (music)
- Luciana Paes · Singer
- Wonder Bettin · Composer
- Lucas Mayer · Producer
- Rodrigo Deltoro · Mix and Master
- Larissa Miranda · Executive Producer
Film production
- Mind and Image · Color Grading
- Kling Klang Klong · Music Production
- Molle&Korn · Film Production
- Anna Moll · Creative Producer
- Seeyourent · Technical Equipment
Freelance
- Sascha Gerlach · Editing
- Daniel Siegl · Motion Design
- Jessica Hartley · PR
- Callum McClean · PR
- Constanze Schmitt · DOP
- Jessica Fuchs · PR Specialist