Google is simplifying the process for users to find the most credible stories by introducing a new “Fact Check” label to Google News. This label joins other existing labels such as In-Depth, Opinion, Wikipedia, Local Source, and Highly Cited.
Publishers who rigorously fact-check their articles can be eligible to receive the “Fact check” label next to their stories. To clarify, Google does not manually verify the content; the responsibility rests on the author to fact-check the article and apply the “Fact check” label.
Adding the fact check label to a news article is done through a specific type of schema markup called ClaimReview. Google is particularly concerned with publishers applying this markup to comprehensive stories that include multiple fact-check analyses within a single article.
However, it’s not as simple as writing the article, adding the schema markup, and hitting publish. To prevent misuse of the fact check label, a stringent set of criteria must be met.
If Google finds that publishers are using the ClaimReview markup improperly, it may ignore the markup or remove the site from Google News entirely.
In addition to looking for ClaimReview markup, Google states: “We also look for sites that follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks.” The specifics of these criteria can be somewhat open to interpretation but are likely similar to those outlined in its support resources.
The fact check label in Google News is available first in the United States and the United Kingdom.
