Public Trust: A Neutral Public Video Repository For Government Actions

I’m exploring an idea for an app called Public Trust, and I’m interested in legal perspectives on whether something like this could function responsibly.

The concept is a public, non-commentary repository for video and photo evidence of government actions, primarily protests and law-enforcement encounters.

Key design choices: • Content must comply with applicable recording and privacy laws • No commenting or engagement features • Metadata preserved (time, location, original file integrity) • Clear labeling of edits, uncertainty, or missing context

The intent is not to adjudicate truth or assign blame, but to preserve evidence in a way that maintains credibility and minimizes manipulation.

AI would be used narrowly: • Detecting tampering or deepfakes • Flagging re-uploads of altered footage • Identifying misleading cropping or sequencing

The name Public Trust is deliberate. The platform wouldn’t advocate, editorialize, or “amplify” it would simply maintain a record accessible to the public.

From a legal standpoint, I’m curious: • What liability issues would this raise (platform vs publisher)? • How realistic is chain-of-custody preservation in a consumer-facing app? • Would disabling comments meaningfully reduce defamation or moderation risk? • Are there jurisdictions where this would be unworkable outright?

I’m more interested in understanding constraints than defending the idea.

Would anyone be able to make this thing work?

Location: Arizona