The Defiant to Preserve Article Archives on Filecoin

In a world where web content disappears at an alarming rate, Filecoin Foundation is working with The Defiant to safeguard its reporting by preserving its entire archives –– including thousands of articles –– and future content on Filecoin, the world’s largest decentralized storage network. 

The Defiant is among the first news outlets to leverage Web3 tools to preserve and protect its content. With storage facilitated by Akave, a unified data layer for Filecoin, The Defiant’s content will remain immutable, verifiable, and secure.

Announced at the Decentralized Media Summit at ETHDenver, this move aligns with The Defiant's core mission of covering the decentralized economy by applying those same principles to its own data infrastructure.

“We’ve covered countless stories about decentralization and now we’re putting that ethos into practice. Storing our archives on Filecoin ensures that The Defiant’s reporting will remain accessible, no matter what happens,” said Cami Russo, Founder, The Defiant.

This move follows The Defiant uploading its 2024 ETHDenver Documentary to the Filecoin network last year. Listen to Cami Russo discuss the documentary on Filecoin Foundation’s Dweb Decoded podcast. 

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The Fragility of the Internet

Every day, links break, articles disappear, and digital records are lost, leaving gaps in our collective knowledge. A recent study conducted by the Internet Archive, Old Dominion University, and Filecoin Foundation revealed the extent of this problem, finding the median lifespan of a web page is only 2.3 years and 50% of deep links disappear within 18 months.

This rapid decay of online content, also known as link rot, is a major challenge for news organizations and researchers alike. Decentralized technology allows web content to be safely and redundantly stored across a distributed network, reducing the risks of centralization, such as single points of failure and content takedowns. 

“Link rot is a much more pervasive problem than most people realize," said Marta Belcher, president and chair of Filecoin Foundation.

“By storing its media archives on Filecoin, The Defiant is ensuring that its content will be available for decades to come."

By leveraging decentralized technologies, organizations are working to ensure that critical digital records remain accessible for future generations. MuckRock, a collaborative news site, has integrated IPFS and Filecoin into DocumentCloud—a platform hosting over 5.5 million verified documents. By giving DocumentCloud users an accessible method for pushing documents to IPFS, MuckRock has helped preserve over 500,000 key files from newsrooms, nonprofits, and researchers. Similarly, Starling Lab has used Filecoin to safeguard journalist archives, addressing growing challenges of digital vulnerability and restoring trust in digital evidence.

Now, The Defiant is leading by example for media outlets to embrace decentralized storage to not only ensure that its reporting remains permanently accessible but also set a new standard for digital preservation in an era where media freedom and resilience have never been more critical. 

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A New Standard for Media Preservation

Readers will soon see a “Preserved on Filecoin” marker on every archived article from The Defiant. Akave, a unified data layer for Filecoin built for fast, secure, and encrypted data access, will preserve The Defiant’s archives on the network. Akave offers hot storage, meaning The Defiant’s archives will be readily available while also considering decentralization and security. Akave enables media, enterprise, AI, and DePIN organizations to take ownership of their data.

“Media archives are the first draft of history. By storing The Defiant’s reporting on Filecoin via Akave, we’re ensuring those stories remain tamper-proof, accessible, and fully in the hands of their rightful owners,” said Stefaan Vervaet, Founder, Akave.

With traditional cloud storage, journalists are often at the mercy of corporate decisions, data breaches, and political pressures. By embracing decentralized storage, The Defiant is future-proofing its journalism, not just for today’s readers, but for the historians, researchers, and builders of tomorrow.

About Akave

Akave is the unified data layer transforming how enterprises, DePIN, and AI teams handle storage, bringing data lakes on-chain with cutting-edge encryption, optimized hot storage, and seamless Filecoin integration. Designed for high-performance and cost efficiency, Akave scales beyond the cloud, offering S3 compatibility, cryptographic proofs, and enterprise-grade reliability at up to 80% savings. allowing users to manage and monetize data, setting a new standard for data ownership and control.

Learn more at akave.ai.