As you all know, fake news stories have become commonplace on the internet in present times. It goes without saying how problematic this issue is. Fake stories and news become a source of controversy. And somewhere, it is very important to stop this. Google and Facebook, the two biggest companies in the world faced same problem during the presidential election time, when some fake news related to the election’s outcome came on their site.
To solve this problem, Google has announced that it will not tolerate misinformation. The company pointed out the revenue resources of the fake news websites and is going to take a serious action against them. Both internet companies Google and Facebook announced on 14th November during a press conference in San Francisco that they are going to introduce a new source to prevent circulation of fake news. A spokesperson of Google said that they are working on their policies to ban fake news sites so that they cannot use their AdSense ad network.
Google’s AdSense is the most important tool of income for most publishers. It allows publishers and advertisers to display their ads on websites which are a distinct part of the Google’s network. It is a great way attract on their websites. But there are some defaulters who are misusing this platform. That’s why Google is going to add a security policy in its authority so that illegal, misleading, and deceptive websites cannot misuse it. This policy will include a special feature which would find out websites that distribute fake news.
He also said that this is just the beginning. With time, we will work on ads related to on page and will restrict those who misstate, misrepresent and leak personal and important information about anyone. Google already follows measures that avoid misuse of AdSense by websites that promote or include violent imagery, videos, hate speeches, and pornography.
According to a former employee of Google, the company utilizes a combination of artificial intelligence and humans to recognize websites that want to use AdSense. They research the website completely and accept it only if qualifies on all their parameters. This issue is really a critical one for Google as per the business point of view. So the company always tries to be one step ahead from other publishers or advertisers.
According to Fil Menczer, who is a professor of computing and informatics in Indiana University said this unique partnership of Google and AdSense is really a good and positive step. This is a great beginning to end fake news websites.
Google has not explained the complete process of their new policy on how it is going to identify such websites and how it will restrict them. But, it is clear that Google is serious about this issue. And they are definitely going to take a more active approach against it.
