Google Launches Tool for 'Fact-Checking' News and Information

In a time when fake news has become a concern not only for journalists but also for politicians and citizens, Google has taken a significant step to combat the spread of false news and information. According to the Christian Science Monitor, last week, Google launched an automated 'fact-checking' program that identifies suspicious or fake news in search results for specific topics. This way, users are informed that the news may be incorrect, and Google directs them to reputable fact-checking sites like PolitiFact or Snopes to verify the claims made by Google. Google, Facebook, and Twitter have faced widespread criticism for allegedly facilitating the dissemination and republication of 'fake news' on the internet. Some critics have even gone so far as to say that certain fake news stories published on Facebook have generated enthusiasm for Trump and hatred for Hillary Clinton. Examples of such fake news included: 'Hillary Clinton said that if Trump wins, there will be a civil war' or 'Pope Francis (the leader of the Catholic Church) surprised the world by endorsing Trump.' In a post published on Google's blog to mark the launch of this new tool, it stated: 'Google is designed to help people find useful information by searching through the content of various sites. Access to high-quality information is what encourages people to use the internet and motivates content creators to continue improving this content. However, thousands of articles are published across the internet every minute, and the volume of this content can be very confusing and overwhelming for users.' But the question remains: To what extent can and should companies like Google or Facebook, whose revenue is generated through advertising, be concerned about users' access to accurate information? Dr. Andrea Forte, a professor at the College of Computing and Informatics at Drexel University, says that creating a system that helps people make better judgments about the information they receive is an important goal, and drawing people's attention when a news item or data may not be reliable is a very good thing that we refer to in our field as 'design for information accessibility.' However, relying on private companies and holding them accountable for informing the public is not a logical approach. According to Dr. Forte, this new Google tool is, at best, an 'imperfect solution.' The Google fact-checking tool was initially tested at the end of last year, a few weeks before the U.S. presidential election, in several countries. However, starting this week, this tool is being implemented in all languages and in Google search results and Google News. It is worth noting that not all news is necessarily fact-checked, and different sites that Google uses as non-partisan and impartial fact-checking sites may not have a uniform opinion on the accuracy of a news item. It is still unclear which result and from which site Google will publish in the event of differing fact-checking results.