Block.one’s Voice appoints former Forbes exec as CEO

Salah Zalatimo, former chief digital officer at global media company Forbes, has been named as the new CEO of Block.one’s social media network Voice.

Commenting on his appointment, Zalatimo said:

“Blockchain is becoming a clear driver of digital media product innovation, and Voice’s tokenised design presents a fundamentally better way of empowering content creators and participants. A new generation of decentralised media is on the horizon. I am delighted to be a part of this effort.”

What is Voice?

The Voice project was first introduced back in June 2019 with the goal of bringing “integrity” to social media.

It will implement verified identity protocols to encourage “real content from real people” and will use blockchain technology to boost transparency and data integrity.

The platform will award Voice tokens to users for different forms of engagement such as creating content and posting comments.

The company claims to have identified a key issue within current social media models wherein the selling of personal data and targeted ads come at the expense of user experience.

Voice is set to launch a public beta on February 14 2020.

The new boss

Salah Zalatimo joined Forbes in 2015 after the company acquired his start-up Camerama.

Over the past five years, he has led a “successful digital transformation yielding a completely re-engineered product organisation which rebuilt the Forbes platform from the ground up”.

Zalatimo will officially start his new role at Voice on January 20 2020.

“Salah is a rare combination of product and media talent enriched by an entrepreneurial past. His experience in creating state-of-the-art content monetisation and publishing tools makes him uniquely qualified to lead Voice,” said Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.one.

“As users enter an era of being rewarded for their contributions to social networks, we believe it’s also important to focus on equipping creators with tools used by the world’s most successful journalists.”

Interested in reading more Block.one-related stories? Discover more about the company paying a hefty $24 million fine to the SEC over an unregistered ICO that took place in 2017.