Google is one of the several internet companies that have been the target to spread fake news. In its attempt to limit the spread, on April 7th, 2016, Google is adding fact checking from third parties to all global search results.
The fact checking will show up in the form of cards with a 'Fact Check' tag. Users that use Google's search engine will see the tag, as the company noted in a blog post: "the snippet will display information on the claim, who made the claim, and the fact check of that particular claim."
The attempt started in October 2016 when Google launched a support to highlight fact-checking articles in Google News in the U.S. and UK.
As before, the information isn’t verified directly by Google; instead, the company is allowing anyone to get involved in the action using by introducing a prescribe markup on the fact check pages. "Only publishers that are algorithmically determined to be an authoritative source of information will qualify for inclusion," said Google.
At its initial state, the company said it's currently working with 115 fact-checking organizations to source verification data.
With this strategy, Google is joining Facebook in helping web users to differentiate between fact contents and fake "hoax" news.
Since Google is depending how many fact checkers, there could be a chance that users will see fact checks that disagree or conflict with each other.
These fact checks are not Google’s and are presented so people can make more informed judgements.
Even though differing conclusions may be presented, we think it’s still helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim and have clear information on which sources agree.
Google is also using its own algorithms as the arbiter. Because fact checkers can be anyone that is "seen" to be eligible, some may not actually be eligible. Using algorithms, Google uses a lot of signals to figure this out, and it will depend on whether a particular search finds fact check material among all the content that it considers when creating results.
Google said it's "helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim and have clear information on which sources agree."
Fact-checking articles are meant to help users and won't give any rank boost to web pages, or even necessarily to the first listing.
