The internet is a wide space to be and it carries a lot of information within itself related to everything in the world. While some information is authentic there can be a few pieces here and there who’s reliability seems uncertain and sometimes people believe that wrong information as well and pass it on. In order to prevent this Google took some steps to highlight to its public on how they can differentiate on which news seems certain and what is suspicious. Last week the tech giant shared insights on how to strengthen our fact checking abilities, as people seek evidence to confirm or refute a piece of information they are uncertain about.
Google explained on how to perform fact checking with the help of its search engine and highlighted that if the search engine thinks that a reliable piece of information is authentic it will show a summary of that fact check determined by an algorithm.
Apart from this the company gave four pointers on how to self-determine authentic information on the search engine.
The first point the search engine gave is to look for news coverage. According to the company if you read a news on one site or through one source and you find it a bit uncertain do not believe it before you have searched for it on other websites as well just to be sure. Also, make sure to switch to news mode or search for a topic in news.google.com. Make sure to click through to “Full Coverage" if the option is available.
In their second point the search engine said that if a picture on the web seems unreal to you right click and search for “Search Google for Image." This can be done on mobile phones too by just tapping and holding onto the image. Upon search you can see if the same image has been used on another context in the past sometimes or if it is being used for the same purpose or news.
The third point the company said to use Google Maps to search for the authenticity of the location the place claims to be at. Also try checking Google Earth or look at the Street View of a location on Google Maps in regions where it is available.
On the fourth and final advice the company has advised the users to search on fact check explorer about the certain topic. The fact check explorer carries over 100,000 fact checks from reputable publishers around the world.
By following these few steps you will be able to access and know authentic information online and it will prevent you from passing on fake news to the public.
Read next: Google is soon rolling out indoor Live View AR navigation along with a whole bunch of features on Google Maps
Google explained on how to perform fact checking with the help of its search engine and highlighted that if the search engine thinks that a reliable piece of information is authentic it will show a summary of that fact check determined by an algorithm.
Apart from this the company gave four pointers on how to self-determine authentic information on the search engine.
The first point the search engine gave is to look for news coverage. According to the company if you read a news on one site or through one source and you find it a bit uncertain do not believe it before you have searched for it on other websites as well just to be sure. Also, make sure to switch to news mode or search for a topic in news.google.com. Make sure to click through to “Full Coverage" if the option is available.
In their second point the search engine said that if a picture on the web seems unreal to you right click and search for “Search Google for Image." This can be done on mobile phones too by just tapping and holding onto the image. Upon search you can see if the same image has been used on another context in the past sometimes or if it is being used for the same purpose or news.
The third point the company said to use Google Maps to search for the authenticity of the location the place claims to be at. Also try checking Google Earth or look at the Street View of a location on Google Maps in regions where it is available.
On the fourth and final advice the company has advised the users to search on fact check explorer about the certain topic. The fact check explorer carries over 100,000 fact checks from reputable publishers around the world.
By following these few steps you will be able to access and know authentic information online and it will prevent you from passing on fake news to the public.
Read next: Google is soon rolling out indoor Live View AR navigation along with a whole bunch of features on Google Maps
