Google pledges campaign to eliminate fake news

In a bid to organize news from across the world and make it accessible to readers, Google has released a set of new guidelines. The first priority? To stop fake news.

According to new guidelines, Google will launch an aggressive crackdown against news website that mislead readers.The move by the search engine giant comes amid a growing concerns about the proliferation of so-called fake news online.

As part of the move, Google has announced it may take off from its news index websites which conceal information about their ownership, primary purpose, country of origin or mislead users.

Google’s new guidelines include plans to provide “the best possible experience for those seeking useful and timely news information.” The search engine giant also said, “Do not misrepresent yourself or your purpose. Sites included in Google News must not misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about their ownership or primary purpose, or engage in coordinated activity to mislead users. This includes, but isn’t limited to, sites that misrepresent or conceal their country of origin or are directed at users in another country under false premises.”

The company has stressed that original reporting and clear attribution were important factors for inclusion in the Google News index besides the use of datelines and by-lines in content for websites publishing “news.”

It added, “If your site publishes aggregated content, separate it from your original work, or restrict our access to aggregated articles via a robots.txt file.”

Commenting on feedback from its users, Google said it values news sites with author biographies and clearly accessible contact information, such as email and physical addresses and phone numbers. The new guidelines also made it clear that “advertising and other paid promotional material” on news pages “cannot exceed your content.”

Google News also said that it would remove sites participating in “other misleading practices not listed in these guidelines.” The Mountain View, the California-headquartered company added, “Failure to follow these guidelines may result in the removal of your article(s), or entire site, from Google News.”