Search engine Google will begin warning users that claims made in search results and news articles are disputed by fact-checking sites, the latest effort to combat so-called “fake news.”
In a blog post Friday, the search giant announced changes which they claim are intended to help users discern fact from fiction.
“With thousands of new articles published online every minute of every day, the amount of content confronting people online can be overwhelming. And unfortunately, not all of it is factual or true, making it hard for people to distinguish fact from fiction,” the company wrote.
Following a pilot program in “a few countries,” the company said it is ready to roll-out a “fact check” tag in news and search results that will appear below certain search queries.
“This label identifies articles that include information fact checked by news publishers and fact-checking organizations,” the blog post states, adding that “For the first time, when you conduct a search on Google that returns an authoritative result containing fact checks for one or more public claims, you will see that information clearly on the search results page.”
The feature relies on an algorithm of data compiled by a host of fact check sites, among them Snopes, NPR, Politico, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Politifact, all of which have been accused of showing a liberal bias in their judgements and many of which have been criticized by US President Donald Trump himself as “fake news.”
Source: Google Fights ‘Fake News’ With ‘Fact Check’ in Search Results
"Pursuing Truth, Defending Liberty"
I don’t use Google any more as my search engine – I use Duck Duck Go. They don’t track you and they make an effort to refer you to links (eg alternatives to YouTube) that don’t track you.
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Startpage is another option…it removes all identifying info from your query and submits it anonymously to Google
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It will be time to move on from Google soon as the decay and decline continue….
The thinking here seems remarkably similar to the “Kendall Jenner, Pepsi ad” that crashed and burned famously……Remember the 1971 Coke ad sing a long, too?
Before I get too far down the rabbit hole, this is my thought:
I’ll begin to have faith in information when allowed to come to my own conclusion…..Perhaps “cultivating the mind” is an idea, like communism, that has had its chance and failed….
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“Cultivating the mind” is just another term for mind control!
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