Google makes changes to search in a bid to ward off fake news

Google SearchGoogle is attempting to fight fake news with changes to its search engine that will enable users to notify the tech giant of offensive or misleading content.

The changes mean that people can report content they deem inappropriate that pops up within Google’s autocomplete suggestion function, while also making changes to its algorithm to prevent the, sometimes wild, suggestions from popping up.

Furthermore, it has updated its search quality rater guidelines to provide more detail about what are considered ‘low-quality’ webpages. Search quality raters are human evaluators who assess the quality of Google’s search results, helping Google to identify necessary improvements.

“Today, in a world where tens of thousands of pages are coming online every minute of every day, there are new ways that people try to game the system,” said Ben Gomes, VP of engineering at Google, in a blog post. “The most high profile of these issues is the phenomenon of ‘fake news’, where content on the web has contributed to the spread of blatantly misleading, low quality, offensive or downright false information. While this problem is different from issues in the past, our goal remains the same—to provide people with access to relevant information from the most reliable sources available.”

In addition to relying on human power, Google has made changes to its ranking system ‘to help surface more authoritative pages and demote low-quality content’. The tech company has also promised to provide greater transparency surrounding its search practices.