Google adds 'fact check' in its search results to combat fake news

In the face of the ever-increasing menace of Fake news, Google has added a fact check tool to its search results that will highlight articles in its search and news results that have been fact checked.

This means when a search query returns a result that has been reviewed, Google will display who made the claim and if a third party organisation has found it to be true, false or somewhere in between.

Notably, Google isn't doing this fact-checking itself. Instead, it's relying on respected independent fact-checking organisations like PolitiFact and Snopes to provide the info. The fact check snippet also includes a link so users can provide feedback in case they think something is wrong.

The information, however, won't be available for every search, Google said, and there could be instances where the same publisher checked the same claim but came to different conclusions. Google emphasised the fact that it was not checking the facts and are "presented so people can make more informed judgments."

"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 explained in a blog post.

The feature was built by Jigsaw, a think tank/ideas lab owned by Google's parent company Alphabet. It was previously available in certain countries in Google News — but it is now being rolled out globally, in both Google News and the main Google Search.

Last month, Facebook too added its own warning label to stories that contain questionable information, tagging stories that appear in its news feed as “disputed” along with a link to a third party fact checking site.