Every day, thousands visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to admire the masterpieces and uncover the stories behind them. Provenance—the history of an artwork’s ownership—brings these pieces to life, revealing each work’s creators and journey. Provenance allows us to understand where a work of art came from, who created it, and who has owned it over time. Without it, even the most beautiful work can lose credibility.
Imagine if the digital world worked the same way, ensuring every creator received proper credit and every piece of content was linked to its rightful source. Today, brands and creators depend on a steady stream of fresh ideas and creative assets to capture attention. But in an online landscape where trends spread like wildfire and ideas are frequently copied, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to establish ownership and give proper credit
This issue became widely known when Jalaiah Harmon, the original creator of the viral “Renegade” dance, was initially overlooked as other influencers gained fame performing her choreography. This example highlights a bigger problem in the digital era: navigating content ownership and credit when everything can be easily duplicated and repurposed.
The Cetaphil Controversy: Attribution Gone Wrong
Earlier this year, Cetaphil released a #GameTimeGlow commercial in the lead-up to the 2024 Super Bowl, featuring a father bonding with his daughter over football and skincare. The ad initially received praise for its emotional appeal. However, TikTok creator Sharon Mbabazi soon called out Cetaphil for using her story, “bar for bar,” without acknowledgment
The outcry was swift. Creators and fans rallied behind Mbabazi, criticizing Cetaphil for failing to credit her role in inspiring the ad. Although Cetaphil eventually reached out and resolved the issue privately, the controversy raised a larger question: How can brands participate in popular culture without undermining the creators who inspire it?
This incident underscores the need for clear attribution and credit in the digital world. Coco Mocoe, a popular creator and host of the Ahead of the Curve podcast, is known for insights on content creation, brand partnerships, and the evolving social media landscape. She explains: “The nature of platforms like TikTok encourages participation in trends, which is great, but it makes it hard to know who actually started a trend. Brands often don’t know who came up with the idea they want to use. However, being called out for stealing another creator’s work can have serious consequences for both brands and creators—it’s potentially career suicide.”
To address these challenges and establish a new standard of transparency, Adobe introduced the Content Authenticity web app—a tool designed to attach a digital record of creation, known as Content Credentials, to individual pieces of content. By starting at the individual asset level, Adobe’s tool provides a foundation for broader digital trust, ensuring that creators receive proper recognition for their work and that the content’s history is preserved. It’s an essential first step for the industry in establishing a reliable system for content provenance.
“Adobe is committed to responsible innovation centered on the needs and interests of creators. Adobe Content Authenticity is a powerful new web application that helps creators protect and get recognition for their work,” said Scott Belsky, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President, Design & Emerging Products at Adobe. “By offering creators a simple, free, and easy way to attach Content Credentials to what they create, we are helping them preserve the integrity of their work while enabling a new era of transparency and trust online. The Adobe Content Authenticity web app will benefit creators and help consumers navigate the digital ecosystem with greater clarity.”
For over four decades, Adobe has been a leader in developing tools that empower creators. From pioneering design software like Photoshop to establishing industry standards, Adobe has shaped how creatives produce, edit, and share their work. Now, as the digital landscape becomes more complex with the rise of AI and the rapid sharing of online content, Adobe is leveraging its deep connection to the creative community to help address the growing concerns around attribution and content authenticity.
These Content Credentials act like a digital “nutrition label” that tracks the content’s creation, authorship, and any changes made. This information stays attached as it moves across platforms—even if copied, reposted, or screenshotted. Once available in Q1 2025, the new standalone app will integrate seamlessly with Adobe Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Lightroom, and anyone can access it for free.
Expanding Transparency with New Features in Adobe Content Authenticity
Apply Content Credentials to Help Protect and Receive Attribution: The tool can easily attach Content Credentials in batches to images, audio, and video files to share critical information like the creator’s name, social media accounts, websites, and more.
Inspect Tool and Google Chrome Extension: Anyone—whether a marketer, consumer, or fellow creator—can view the attached Content Credentials and see the history of images and videos at a glance. The Inspect Tool provides visibility into the content’s provenance and modifications, while the Chrome extension makes it easy to check the source of any image directly in the browser when these credentials are available.
Generative AI Training and Usage Preference: As AI-generated content becomes more common, Adobe’s tool lets creators specify whether their work can be used for AI training. These preferences travel with the content, ensuring that creators’ rights are upheld as their work is viewed on different platforms
Durable Attribution Across Platforms: Adobe’s tool uses a combination of digital fingerprinting, invisible watermarking, and cryptographically signed metadata, ensuring that even if the content is altered or shared in new formats, the original credentials remain intact and verifiable.
The Next Step: Protecting Creative IP and Ideas
While Adobe’s focus on individual digital assets is a critical start, the next frontier is finding ways to protect intellectual property and creative ideas at a broader level. Beyond tracking images and videos, there’s still a gap in addressing situations where the concepts or formats are borrowed without acknowledgment—whether by more prominent creators or even by brands
Power dynamics make it tough for smaller creators to challenge big-name influencers or companies. Even with clear evidence, the backlash can be overwhelming, and speaking out can sometimes harm the smaller creator more than the original infringement.
Coco Mocoe explains, “Even though many successful creators want to give credit, it’s still hard to enforce when others steal your ideas. For brands, recognizing and addressing these dynamics is crucial. Establishing best practices that ensure credit goes to the creators and those who inspire ideas builds trust and shows a commitment to transparency and ethical conduct.”
Adobe’s Content Authenticity tool is a starting point for a healthier digital ecosystem. Encouraging brands and platforms to adopt these practices as industry standards will help elevate the creator economy.
Building a New Framework for Trust
Just as provenance preserves the value of a masterpiece hanging in the Met, Adobe’s Content Authenticity tool ensures digital assets retain their rightful place in the creative ecosystem. By giving every piece of content a clear lineage and every creator their due credit, Adobe is setting the stage for a new standard that will protect, value, and elevate creators and their work