The Gatekeeper
How The Block knows your photograph was made by a camera — and why that matters more every month.
What happens when you upload
Before an image can join a story, it’s checked on our servers — not in your browser, where checks can be faked. The file passes through layered validation: the image itself, then its EXIF — the technical record your camera writes into each file — then the maker-specific metadata, then consistency and tamper checks, then the device blocklist. Only work that clears every layer publishes.
What bounces
Smartphones (iPhone, Pixel, Samsung and the rest), action cameras (GoPro), and drones (DJI) are rejected — unless the metadata proves a professional sensor behind them. If anything in the check errors out, the image is rejected, not waved through. We’d rather turn away a real photo by mistake than let a fake one in.
If your camera is wrongly rejected
Edge cases happen — an unusual body, stripped metadata, a new release we haven’t listed. Tell us and we’ll review it; genuine cameras get added to the allowlist. Verification should never punish real work.
Proof that survives the internet.
The Block doesn’t only prove an image real before it publishes — it carries proof with the story afterwards, too. If a photograph arrives already signed, we keep that signature intact. If it doesn’t, Professional stories are signed here at publish. Either way, it’s a cryptographic, tamper-evident record built on the same open standard the camera industry is adopting.
Honest limits
We verify camera-origin metadata and content credentials. That’s strong, checkable evidence a real camera made the image — not a claim that any file is impossible to forge. We’re transparent about the difference, and we harden the checks continuously. Verification you can inspect beats verification you’re asked to believe.
Put verified work on the map
Join the waitlist