Google introduces a new ‘fact-check’ label for news articles

For those who are always scouting for facts beyond the news story or the subject line, Google has announced that it has started labeling certain news stories with a new “fact check” tag “to help readers find fact checking in large news stories” faster and in an easier way.

“Google News determines whether an article might contain fact checks in part by looking for the schema.org Claim Review markup. We also 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,” Google noted in its official post.

Though the move will surely help the search engine in promoting its platform for news related search but it could also render it vulnerable to bias allegations, something that Facebook bore earlier this year when tech news site Gizmodo reported that former contractors who worked on the social network’s “trending topics” feature suppressed stories about conservative topics and from conservative outlets.

Google News already labels different types of articles with tags like Opinion, Wikipedia, and In-Depth with a new Local Source tag added earlier this year to highlight coverage of local stories.

Google points out that with fact checking articles becoming increasingly popular, more than 100 active sites are now looking into stories to make sure they have accurate information about science, health, the media and, yes, politics. In this election year, “fact checking” has become a bullet point for both the people who are running for office as well as journalists and other groups who want to separate the real story from the wild claims and accusations.

The tagged articles will be visible in the expanded story box on news.google.com, in the Google News and Weather apps on iOS and Android. The labels will first be visible to readers in the United States and the United Kingdom.