Google is rolling out a new “fact check” label for search results aggregated in its news section, the company said on Friday.
“In the seven years since we started labeling types of articles in Google News (e.g., In-Depth, Opinion, Wikipedia), we’ve heard that many readers enjoy having easy access to a diverse range of content types,” Richard Gingras, head of Google’s news division, wrote in a blog post. “Earlier this year, we added a ‘Local Source’ Tag to highlight local coverage of major stories.
“Today, we’re adding another new tag, ‘Fact check,’ to help readers find fact checking in large news stories,” Gingras said, explaining that the label would be applied largely according to sites self-identifying content. “We … look for sites that follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks. Publishers who create fact-checks and would like to see it appear with the ‘Fact check’ tag should use that markup in fact-check articles.”
Factcheck: MOSTLY TRUE https://t.co/xIfMEeM13L
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 14, 2016
Fact Check: TRUE https://t.co/rIy04A9PtG
— Boston??Bobblehead (@DBloom451) October 11, 2016
Trump: “Our media is indeed sick.”
Fact check: True. I have been sniffling all day and I think I have a cold.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) October 14, 2016
Organizations engaged in purported “fact checking” have become the subject of ridicule over the current campaign cycle due to the label’s frequent usage. Even as Google rolled out the new feature, Twitter users were busy mocking the term.
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Gingras noted that “more than 100 active sites” are currently engaged in fact checking, and said Google looked forward to joining their ranks. “We’re excited to see the growth of the Fact Check community and to shine a light on its efforts to divine fact from fiction, wisdom from spin.”
