Certified trust will soon become the most important value for visual content. Trust that images or videos are not altered in any way that could deceive the viewer. No fake images or montage, no biased alterations. By imposing accountability, the lines between deception and truthfulness would be clearly defined. And moral responsibility reestablish. That is the only way to combat deepfakes.

When National Geographic published Beth Moon’s images of “the world’s oldest trees by starlight,” seasoned astrophotographers like Adrien Mauduit cried foul. Not only were sections of the sky cloned, but specific stars were appearing in portions of the sky that were physical impossibilities. As other astrophotographers chimed in, a microbiologist emerged as the most eagle-eyed of the bunch. Dr. Elisabeth Bik, a science consultant who runs Microbiome Digest (@microbiomdigest), started finding more manipulation in Moon’s work, as well as other images on the Nat Geo website and by photographers like Steve McCurry.

In the wake of the controversy raging on the Internet over the past few days, I wanted to take a deeper look at some of the pictures that were published. The goal here was to try and determine if Moon’s pictures were manipulated based on the undeniable science of astronomy.

A group of boys in Baraboo, WI assembled for a junior prom photo and posed with a Nazi salute. One of the boys posted the image to Twitter with the caption “We even got the black kid to throw it up.” In the midst of public outrage, it was revealed that a professional photographer not only took the image, but directed them to “wave goodbye.”

National Geographic recently published a series of gorgeous photos by photographer Beth Moon that shows some of the world’s oldest trees under the stars. But one photo, in particular, is now raising eyebrows after sharp-eyed readers noticed something strange about it.

Photographer Andrew Moisey, author of an acclaimed 2018 book about the underside of college fraternity life, has come under criticism for obtaining consent from the men he photographed, but not from all of the women. Critics accuse him of a double standard.

Andrew Quilty’s photographs of the aftermath of a bombing in Kabul, some of which ran in The New York Times, won third place in the Spot News, Stories category. But the photojournalist was not in Amsterdam for the ceremony. After the foundation received reports of inappropriate behavior by Quilty, organizers told the photojournalist he was not welcome at the event, according to Lars Boering, managing director of the World Press Photo Foundation. The awards are the most prestigious in photojournalism, and the ceremony in Amsterdam and subsequent photo festival is a gathering of top industry figures. The foundation has not made public the number or nature of the accusations.

Brands spent an estimated $2 billion on marketing through Instagram “influencers” in 2017, and that number is expected to balloon to $10 billion by 2020. The game has become so lucrative that many people are finding all kinds of ways to fake influence in order to reap the rewards. Popular photographer Trey Ratcliff has written a new book that exposes these “cunning tricks.”