The fight against actual, provable Fake News has been one of the highest priorities of tech companies like Google for the past year. In a recent development, the search engine giant just made some changes to its policies meant to bolster its defenses against misleading content. The company is basically blocking any website from showing up in its search results going forward if they hide their country of origin.
According to the revised guidelines that Google implemented, any website that wants their content to be displayed on Google News will need to ensure that the right information is provided and displayed. Among them is the site’s country of origin, which can be a major indicator of how reliable the contents of the site can be.
“Sites included in Google News must not misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about their ownership or primary purpose, or engage in coordinated activity to mislead users. This includes, but isn’t limited to, sites that misrepresent or conceal their country of origin or are directed at users in another country under false premises,” the updated guidelines read.
While many may accuse Google of censorship with this new development, it is a crucial step in stopping websites with fraudulent content from spreading lies in other countries. Sites that are found outside the U.S., for example, can start producing fake news intended to influence Americans, just as they did during the 2016 election.
As Mashable notes, this change can also have far-reaching effects when it comes to fighting fake news. The Google News section is where a lot of internet users get their information from, which lends an air of legitimacy to the contents found on the platform.
By blocking the contents of websites that are concealing their country of origin from showing up on Google News, the tech company just dealt a major blow to those who would spread fake news. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a big step in the right direction.


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