OK, so you've digitised an analog slide. Any experienced photographer could spot that instantly because slide film has very different properties to an imaging s

OK, so you've digitised an analog slide. Any experienced photographer could spot that instantly because slide film has very different properties to an imaging sensor, but we'll set that aside for a moment. Your camera generated a C2PA manifest when you created that image. If you include the EXIF metadata in that manifest, your subterfuge is revealed immediately. Even without GPS fields, the lens and camera parameters will tell me that you've taken a photo of a very small object rather than the scene represented in the image. If you don't include that metadata, then I know that you've intentionally concealed it from me. You might have a good reason to conceal that data, but I know that the manifest only "validates" a limited set of claims that do not actually tell me much (if anything) about the image. C2PA is a tool to establish provenance, nothing more. It doesn't prove that an image is "true" in a philosophical sense, it just adds a layer of trust about the technical processes used to create that image. It doesn't stop anyone from misrepresenting an image, it doesn't stop anyone from circulating staged or AI-generated images on social media, but it does allow legitimate reporters, news agencies and other bodies to audit their information flows and show their workings. That isn't a magic bullet against misinformation, but it's still extremely valuable in lots of circumstances.