Google Uses New ID System To Fight Fake News, Facebook And Microsoft Join In

The war against fake news is ramping up and tech giants are using a new weapon that basically acts as an ID system. Companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are using a new program that essentially identifies credible or “trusted” news sources. This helps in identifying which website is offering actual journalism or is only interested in spreading fake news.

In Google’s blog post about the new feature, the company explains that this is an initiative in partnership with the Trust Project. The Trust Project is basically an organization created specifically to combat the spread of fake news and this time, the goal is to label every single news article to distinguish the trustworthy ones from those that are not.

“In a first step, the Project has released eight trust indicators that newsrooms can add to their content. This information will help readers understand more about what type of story they’re reading, who wrote it, and how the article was put together,” the blog post reads.

The indicators include Best Practices, which is basically comprised of information such as who is funding the website and how accurate the articles are, as well as Diverse Voices, which is essentially about the site featuring articles from authors with differing opinions.

It’s worth noting that these indicators are optional and that the tech companies will have to decide on how to use them, CNET reports. Since Google and Facebook are among those who have suffered the most over the last year for their roles in spreading fake news, it was only to be expected that these tech giants would be onboard.

As to which publications will be getting the Trust indicator treatment, The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, and The Economist are among the starting news sites. It should be expected that the rollout will likely include many others in the coming months.