Google announced its first attempt to combat the circulation of “fake news” on its search engine with new tools allowing users to report misleading or offensive content, and a pledge to improve results generated by its algorithm. It also said it would refine its search engine to “surface more authoritative pages and demote low-quality content” – and acknowledged for the first time that it had taken the measures to combat the threat of fake news. Results would allow Google to change the way pages were ranked in search results. “As is often the case when Google announces changes, this couldn’t be more vague,” suggested Joost de Valk, a search engine expert at the consultancy firm Yoast. “The response is definitely happening because of all the attention that’s come up in recent months over fake news and problematic search results, answers and search suggestions,” Sullivan told the Guardian.

Source: The Guardian April 25, 2017 14:00 UTC