Google Fact Check ~ New Means to Eradicate Correct News
We have discussed a number of times about the dangers of untrue news distribution, aka hoaxes which are increasingly rampant in recent times. Although in this case we discuss the distribution online, the fact is that the effects of news hoaxes can spread to the offline domain and cause a variety of new problems in society.
Therefore, not a few parties declare war against the spread of hoax news. Some of them are technology companies that have online-based services, such as Google's search engine services. After being pressured by various parties because they were accused of being the number one fake information distribution tool in the world, #Google certainly did not remain silent and did some frontal steps.
For example, recently Google officially opened the Fact Check feature for all Google search engine users worldwide. With this feature, in general search engine users can instantly see which news has been verified correctly and which news is stated as a hoax. Here's the full review.
About Google Fact Check
At the beginning of April 2017, technology company Google announced a new feature, Google Fact Check. Regarding the function of this feature, it is generally used to mark news that is spread through search engines, whether the news is a fact or even fake news.
The advantage of this feature is that the labeling of facts or hoaxes has gone through a deep examination before it can be seen by the user. Regarding this inspection itself, it is a third party inspection that is not directly handled by Google.
The third party that mediates the information truth checker is a company that also has good credibility. Generally, they are engaged in online media services or digital security.
Starting From Complaints To Hoaxes
Regarding the beginning of the development of the Google Fact Check feature, this feature was first introduced in October 2016. At that time, this feature was only accessible to users in the UK and the United States.
Regarding the reason for developing the feature, it was stated that many parties, both government and private, were asking digital companies such as Google to be able to further improve service quality, especially those related to the spread of hoax news.
One of them is the demands of the British government, who feel that Google has become a hotbed of various hoax information which ultimately has a negative impact on the British public. In addition, Google is also still passing a variety of illegal and extremist content that can destabilize a country.
One of them, related to the event of the presidential election of the United States which was completed some time ago, the comparison of the number of news hoaxes with news of facts spread in the community was truly alarming.
Moreover, when people are not provided with facilities to recognize which news is true and news that is false, then they tend to accept all information as correct information. This is the beginning of a bigger problem.
Prioritizing the ease of users
As explained earlier, the Google Fact Check feature has begun to be enjoyed by all Google uses around the world starting in April 2017. However, its development continues to go hand in hand with the improvement of features.
Presented by Google Cong Yu's Research Sciencties and Jigsaw Product Manager Justin Kosslyn, Google Fact Check is expected to be able to make it easier for search engine users to analyze and know the truth of a news. This is manifested in the form of a simple feature that is by embedding fact tags or hoaxes.
"We make Fact Check more open in search results, which we believe people will more easily review and access the Fact Check," wrote on the Google blog.
On the other hand, there are also explanations from third-party companies that are facilitators for Google Fact Check features. The company is Jigsaw which states that this feature is a real step to further limit the spread of news hoaxes.
However, after almost 1 year of being activated, the Google Fact Check feature still needs a lot of improvements, especially in terms of site coverage that can be analyzed. It was stated that, until now, the source of the site that could be verified by validity was only sites that already had certain algorithms.
"Only the publisher whose algorithm is determined to be a source of information, will be included in this Google program," explained Google.
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