How Google is tackling fake news, and why it should not do it alone

Fact-checking and preventing fake news from appearing in search results will remain a big priority for search engines in 2017.

Following the US election and Brexit, increased focus is being placed on how social networks and search engines can avoid showing “fake news” to users. However, this is a battle that search engines cannot — and more fundamentally, should not — fight alone.

With search engines providing a key way people consume information, it is obviously problematic if they can both decide what the truth is and label content as the truth. This power might not be abused now, but there is no guarantee of the safe governance of such organizations in the future.

Here are five key ways Google can deal (or already is dealing) with fake news right now. They are:

1. Manually reviewing websites
2. Algorithmically demoting fake news
3. Removing incentives to create fake news
4. Signaling when content has been fact-checked
5. Funding fact-checking organizations

[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Ian Bowden is Head of Search at Ecselis (Havas Group) and is ultimately responsible for Search operations in the UK. Ian joined Havas Group in 2010 and has ten years of experience, having first started in SEO building affiliate websites to pay his way through university. Today, he leads one of the biggest UK Search outfits, and is passionate about driving both performance and integration for clients. In 2012, he was named in Media Week’s "30 under 30" list in recognition of his results for clients.

Source: MarketingLand