The API of Truth

In near-future Bangalore, developer Chunmun Singh invents a revolutionary social media protocol that integrates blockchain, biometrics, and AI to verify the authenticity of every post, message, and claim in real-time. Launched with high hopes of fostering immutable honesty, the API initially exposes lies and betrayals on a massive scale, leading to personal heartbreaks, corporate collapses, political upheavals, and societal fractures.
Chunmun, alongside his ethicist colleague Vibha Jha, grapples with the unintended consequences as the tool evolves from a beacon of transparency into a double-edged sword, forcing humanity to confront the destructive power of unfiltered truth while navigating black markets for deception, government crackdowns, and ethical dilemmas. As the story unfolds over years, the API undergoes transformations through open-sourcing, forking into customized variants, federation with legacy networks, augmented reality overlays, therapeutic applications, and timeless legacy archives.
What begins as a chaotic unraveling of society's veils gradually weaves into a balanced ecosystem where users can choose their level of transparency, heal personal traumas, and preserve verified histories. Ultimately, the novella explores themes of trust as a currency, the tension between absolute truth and necessary shadows, and humanity's resilience in adapting technology to serve both liberation and mercy, culminating in a harmonious "eternal tapestry" of mediated realities.