Google clamps down on fake news, brings Fact Check to Search globally

It’s gotten to the point where you can’t believe anything on the internet anymore (does that apply to this statement?), with more unfounded claims being made every day and disseminated around the globe at fiber optic speeds. As we’ve seen a lot lately from major online presences like Facebook and Google, the crackdown against fake news is intensifying. The latest effort sees the search giant now bringing its Fact Check service to search globally to help you sort the facts from the bluster.

Originally announced back in October of last year, Fact Check was initially designed for publishers in a few countries to append verifications of claims made in Google News stories. But Google has evidently felt a need to roll it out more broadly, announcing Friday that Fact Check will now appear around the globe, in both Google News and Search. Now, when you search for something on Google, if there’s any contentious claims contained therein that have been fact checked by the likes of Snopes or Politico, for example, you’ll see the status of the claim’s basis in fact.

Of course, you won’t see Fact Check on every result and if different fact checking sites have drawn different conclusions regarding the same claim you might even come across conflicting fact check information. While this is obviously not a perfect system, Google points out that “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.” The Fact Check data does not come from Google and publishers need to opt in to the service.