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Fans of facts are often frustrated by the Internet. Sorting fact from fiction is often challenging and information overload is a common complaint. Believe it or not, some information on the Internet isn’t, well, truthful.
Shocking, isn’t it?
Spending your time reading an article that isn’t truthful is a waste of time. Better to read an article where the facts have been checked than one that hasn’t.
Google is now helping you to determine which articles have been checked for facts with its new Fact Check feature.
Articles that have been checked for facts are now designated by Google with a “Fact Check” tag.
You can look for the Fact Check tag when you search for news stories, along with other helpful tags such as Local Source, Trending, Opinion, Most Cited, and In-Depth.
Where to Find Google Fact Check
Google is rolling out Fact Check, beginning in the US and UK, on the:
- Google News website
- Google News & Weather app for iPhone and iPad
- Google News & Weather app for Android
How Google Fact Check Works
How does Google know when an article has been checked for facts?
First, news organizations can designate their sites as having articles that are fact checked. If Google learns that a site has designated itself incorrectly, Google may no longer list the site in its news search results (a stiff, if not crippling, penalty for a website).
Second, Google designates articles as Fact Check from sources that “follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks.”
Google uses specific criteria to determine whether a site is worthy of the Fact Check tag. From Google, we use “the following criteria, which we consider characteristics of fact-checking sites:
- Discrete claims and checks must be easily identified in the body of fact-check articles.
- Readers should be able to understand what was checked, and what conclusions were reached.
- Analysis must be transparent about sources and methods, with citations and references to primary sources.
- The organization must be nonpartisan, with transparent funding and affiliations. It should examine a range of claims in its topic area, instead of targeting a single person or entity.
- Article titles must indicate that a claim is being reviewed, state the conclusions reached, or simply frame that the article’s contents consist of fact checking.”
News sites can apply to be included in those that Google tags with Fact Check in the Google News Publisher section.
You can read more information about the new Fact Check feature at the Google blog.
Note that some have speculated the Google has released this feature to help voters in the US Presidential election sort truth from fiction. Whether or not that is true hasn’t been fact checked. However, when I was researching this article, the Fact Check tag only appeared on news articles about the US Presidential candidates.
Regardless of the timing of its arrival, this Fact Check tool will be useful beyond November 8.
Your Thoughts
Do you look for news sources that check their facts? Are you glad to find out about Google’s new Fact Check feature? Would seeing the Fact Check tag make it more likely for you to read a new story? If you don’t have Google Fact Check yet, do you want it to come to your country?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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Wow, talk about mythbusters; I thought if it was on the internet it had to be true. Learn something new everyday, huh?
Hi Bill, Yes, it’s true, or at least I think it’s true. No, wait. Was this fact checked? Oh yes, it was.
Hi Carolyn,
This is the first time I have heard about the Google fast check. So, A big thanks for the post.
Thanks for sharing. Have a great day.
Hi Robin, Yes, Google Fact Check is new but a very important update from Google. It’s rolling out slowly but we can take comfort when we do see the Fact Check tag that the news article will be fact, not fiction.
Hi Carolyn,
So who wouldn’t want a fact check helper while wading through news headlines and beyond? I tried to figure out how these articles are marked by first looking for some articles I had links to. None showed the icon as captured in your examples. Then I decided to head over to the Google News website. Again, if I clicked on any article link, the article itself did not have this fact check icon. So, what am I missing here?
Thanks!
Hi Carol, Great question. You’re right, you must go to the Google News site (linked in the article above) or the Google News & Weather app to see the Fact Check tag. The tag appears on the site and apps, not on the article itself when you click through and arrive at the article.
I didn’t find many articles with the Fact Check tag, so I believe it is rolling out slowly. Some news sites are probably still in the process of applying for the tag.
I believe they will apply because Google is such an important source for web traffic. Also, when people see the Fact Check tag, they are more likely to click on it, I would think.
This sounds really interesting. I went looking for it but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Is there a rollout date or is it already here?
Hi Mitch, First, you must be in the US or UK to be able to see the Fact Check tag.
Second, you must go to the Google News website or use the Google News & Weather app to see the tag.
Third, this feature seems to be rolling out slowly. As I mentioned in a comment above, I believe news organizations will apply for this tag, but the process is likely a slow one as Google wants to be sure that the tag is used properly.
Hey Carolyn,
Thanks for sharing much interesting thought with us.
With best wishes,
Amar kumar
Hi Amar, Yes, this Google Fact Check tag has great potential to help people determine which articles are factual and which are not. The Internet can be challenging and this tool makes it less so.
Hi Carolyn, I heard of it but wasn’t sure how it worked. Thanks for showing us in action about this one. I’m not sure if I would rely 100% on it but if it helps with the way the media is now reporting things then it will be awesome.
There are so many sources out there today and so many people are gullable to believe all that they hear from the “news”.
Have a great week Carolyn!
Hi Lisa, Yes, many times we can read rumor, opinion or speculation online and mistakenly believe we’re reading facts. This tool can help us avoid making these mistakes and wasting time by pointing us to factual articles.
Well, I’m definitely in the United States lol However, I’d missed the part about the apps and such; I thought you could look something up on Google itself and then click the News category at the top. I’d never heard of Google News before; the things I learn…
Hi Mitch, I did the same thing when I first started researching this article. Even on Google News the Fact Check tag can be difficult to find sometimes. This should increase as more news organizations sign onto the program.
I hope they do bring the tag to Google, it’s kind of annoying to have to go to Google News and/or download another app. But seeing the Fact Check tag and other tags may make it worthwhile for now.
This is something new to me
After reading this post I am getting curious about this google fact check I have to check thank you for the awesome post..
Hi Prince, Yes, I think you will enjoy the other tags as well, such as Opinion, Trending, Most Cited, etc. They help you identify more quickly the news article you want to read.
Hey Carolyn,
It’s really frustrating when you invest your time to read an article and that turns out to be nothing.
Google has taken a step in the right direction. The fast check can help the readers to know about the authentic content.
Thanks for the info.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi, Good point. When we read misleading articles, we can be fooled or at the very least waste our time. Better to know that an article has been fact checked so we can rely on the contents of it.
Thanks Carolyn for sharing this. It’s so interesting to see how the internet and social media is affecting our behaviour and decision making. The election in the US is intense and the first time I heard of fact check is in CNN during the first presidential debate.
Literally, anyone can put up a website and publish false information, make it viral in social media and people would believe it to be true. More and more that we need to be responsible for what we put out there in the big world wide web.
I wish this google feature becomes available outside the US. Would be good to have a sense of truth to the chaotic universe of the internet.
Hi Jen, Yes, the US Presidential election is certainly an excellent example of the importance of fact checking. You’re exactly right, and it happens in tech a lot, people can write whatever they want on the Internet, whether or not it’s true.
Finding articles to trust can be challenging, which is why Google Fact Check is an important tool.