Image: INQUIRER.net
The quest to rid the internet of fake news has prompted Google to add a new feature for its search engine.
Users will start to notice a label that reads “fact check” attached to their search results. This is Google’s new fact-check tagging system and it’s now being rolled out globally.
Some search results will now display a summary that shows which organization fact-checked it, who said it, and what the search result claims to be a fact. According to Google’s official blog, “the snippet will display information on the claim, who made the claim, and the fact-check of the particular claim.”
Google is not actively vetting articles but decided to include these labels to help readers find the articles that have already been fact-checked, according to it own news publishing rules.
Publishers will be required to follow several rules, including the use of Schema.org’s ClaimReview markup on each page in order to get a label attached to the article in question. They can also use the “Share the Facts” widget.
Additionally, publishers will be screened stringently and only those that are “algorithmically determined to be an authoritative source of information” will be included in the system.
While Google’s new system doesn’t directly stamp out what can be considered as fake news, it does help educate readers in determining whether what they read on the internet is fact or fiction. JB