Google and Facebook make moves to stop circulation of fake news

Google and Facebook have announced plans to prevent the spreading of fake news by cutting off advertising revenue to the websites which produce the content.

Google said it was working on a policy change to its Adsense network to exclude such websites yesterday, while Facebook has updated its Audience Network policy to include fake news sites under its prohibited “misleading, illegal and deceptive sites” category.

This action follows soon after the United States presidential election, which saw fake news websites produce (often malicious) content that some argue could have unfairly swayed voters’ decisions.

Though Google and Facebook’s move won’t outright stop the production of fake content, it would reduce the financial incentive for its creation.

“Moving forward, we will restrict ad serving on pages that misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher’s content, or the primary purpose of the web property,” said Google in a statement.

Meanwhile, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied accusations that fake news circulated through Facebook gave Trump his election win, stating that “more than 99%” of all the content that people see on Facebook is authentic. (Read Zuckerberg’s statement, and his responses to questions from Facebook users, at the link.)

To what extent do you think bogus news played a part in the election? Let us know in the comments.