Fact check in news search now also possible in Switzerland
Google's fact-check label is now also available to Swiss media companies and publishers. The goal is to combat misinformation and false claims on the internet.
Media companies and publishers who wish to use the fact check must use a specific technical format for the publication of their reports. Only then do the articles fall into the grid in which the fact check takes place, as Google was told on Friday in response to an inquiry. More than 115 organizations worldwide are responsible for the check.
Anyone who carries out an internet search for which a fact check has been carried out will in future be informed of this on the search results page. The label is now available worldwide and therefore also in Switzerland, according to a statement from Google.
The label has also been extended to Google searches in all languages. People often find it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction on the internet, writes Google. This is why the company introduced the fact check label last October - initially in the USA and the UK.
It was not possible to find out on Friday whether the Swiss Media Association intends to make use of the new option. In March, however, the association launched a campaign on the subject of fake news. In advertisements, it explains journalistic working methods and personalities reaffirm their expectations of the independent media.
If the political and social debate is increasingly about emotions rather than facts, the time has come for independent media, association president Pietro Supino is quoted as saying in a press release. (SDA)
