Trust.txt file establishes a relationship between publishers and trusted industry organizations. Trust.txt is an effort by JournalList to systematically and transparently disclose connections between journalists, publishers & associations.
The concept of a trust.txt file borrows heavily from two previous very successful efforts to improve the overall experience of the internet: robots.txt and ads.txt.
With both, website publishers are able to create a small and very manageable file that they have full control over that helps platforms and advertisers improve the overall ecosystem, and thereby the experience for users. So it is with trust.txt.
What is Trust.txt?
Trust.txt is a framework that establishes relationships between publishers and the trusted industry organizations and associations they belong to. Belonging to an industry organization is one signal of trust that sets quality publishers apart from other websites. Trust.txt, a simple text file that publishers add to their websites, provides an easy way for advertisers, tech platforms, and search engines like Google to make connections between legitimate publishers and trusted industry organizations, which helps those publishers stand out from others in the market.
