Google and its new plan to prevent fake news in the world

The Internet has allowed people to be connected and find information about anything at any time, however, there are so many search possibilities that false data can be sneaked (Fake News). That's when Google's commitment to Fact Cheking comes in.

Better known as Data Verification for Spanish-Speakers, Fact Cheking is a practice that consists of finding false news or data that can mislead people by impersonating true information.

A great example worldwide of why Data Verification is needed is the COVID-19 pandemic, which, despite having diminished its effects, is still active in all countries.

In its most serious stages, a lot of information circulated on the subject that had led the world's population to retreat at home, however, much was false.

In some cases, people took advantage of the moment to terrorize with conspiracy theories of 5G or the World Order, make montages and spread misinformation about the cure, effects and deaths from COVID-19. Because there were so many Fake News, someone had to deny them.

While data verification has been around for several years now, the pandemic has shown more than ever that there is a need for truthful information. In that regard, Google is committed to ensuring that people have more verified information choices.

Through products and initiatives, including the creation of a network of checkers with more than 500 specialists, the technology company seeks to combat misinformation.

“Data verification is a key activity to contribute to this goal, which is why, at Google, we join the International Day of Verification and reaffirm the initiatives we are carrying out with local and regional organizations, as well as presenting different products, which are fundamental to combating misinformation together”, pointed out Google.

Fact Checking Gadget: Using content checkers, Google corroborates the information and expands it using the expanded history box. There, the search engine provides a summary of each topic, and provides access to the pages that provide such information, which also contain verification tags in the Google News applications for computers and applications for iOS and for Android.

Fact Checker Explorer: In this tool, people have the possibility to put a word or text quote in the browser so that it returns a list of related facts that have already been checked. Verified facts can already be found in the News tab of the Fact Check Explorer.

Mobile Top Stories: As part of International Data Verification Day, it launched a new feature in Top Stories (for mobile devices for now available in the region and Spanish in mid-April). To give more prominence to high-quality original results.

Google News Initiative: Since last year, it created a $3 million fund for news verification projects related to COVID-19, with additional $6.5 million support for NGOs that combat misinformation. This 2022 supports Spanish-speaking organizations from Argentina (Chequeado) and Spain (Maldita.es) to launch a new fact-checking organization in the United States for people who speak Spanish.

Google also joined Chequeado, to create a fact checking “training of trainers” program in Latin America. It will train 500 new checkers, among journalists and journalism students in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

There is also the platform called DigiMente, which seeks to train citizens capable of discerning between different sources of information, consuming and creating quality content and participating in citizen life in a responsible and ethical way.

In Colombia and Chile, it has carried out actions such as the 2022 electoral coverage strategy, designed by the Editorial Board or a Mala Espina project on Fact Check to cover the constitutional process in Chile, verify its misinformation and explain the issues discussed at the convention with the Google News Initiative.

Finally, Google recalls that misinformation has become one of the most pressing issues of the moment and is a challenge for the media, digital platforms and society in general. Hence, they carry out their initiatives to achieve the goal of having a well-informed world.

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