Google to offer image fact-check

Google to offer image fact-check

Anam.Ajmal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 24.06.2020

To curb misinformation, technology giant Google will start adding factchecking labels in its image search results globally, the company said late on Monday. The labels will provide additional information to make it easier for users to identify manipulated photos.

“Photos and videos are an incredible way to help people understand what’s going on in the world. But the power of visual media has its pitfalls — especially when there are questions surrounding the origin, authenticity or context of an image,” Google product manager Harris Cohen wrote in a blog post announcing the feature.

The “Fact Check” label will pop up under the thumbnail image results. When a user taps one of these results to view the image in a larger format, they’ll see a summary of the fact check carried out by third-party “independent, authoritative sources” that meet Google’s standards.

These sources rely on ClaimReview, an open method used by publishers to indicate fact check content to search engines. Attaching ClaimReview to an article allows search engines to recognise that it is a fact check article and thus render it as such in search results and other surfaces. YouTube also uses ClaimReview to surface fact check information panels, the blogpost further said-."Just as is the case in Search, adding this label in Google Images results does not affect ranking; our systems are designed to surface the most relevant, reliable information available, including from sources that provide fact checks," Cohen wrote.