Google Includes Fact-checking To News Reports
Search engine giant Google is including ”fact check” tags to its news reports amid a US presidential race facing heated disputes over accuracy of information.
The move, made known Thursday, is to enable readers on the website click on links to verify facts where claims have been evaluated by fact-check organisations.
The new feature is also introduced to address disputes over facts between many major media outfits and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
It would also be used to checkmate fake stories travelling through the social media space.
“We’re excited to see the growth of the fact-check community and to shine a light on its efforts to divide fact from fiction, wisdom from spin,” Google news chief Richard Gingras said in a blog post.
Google News ”determines whether an article might contain fact checks” utilizing an algorithm that evaluates claims and by seeking websites ”that follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Google’s new addition is already drawing commendation.
Bill Adair, a Duke University journalism professor and founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning site PolitiFact, called the Google announcement “a huge step for fact-checking.”
Trump has forced fact-checkers to work overtime with a seemingly tireless stream of false information and exaggeration about his past. He has also attacked the media for damning revelations.
On Thursday, Trump savaged US media for reporting “outright lies” that he groped and forcibly kissed women who came forward to tell their stories to news outlets.
