Google announced Tuesday that it plans to spend $300 million over the next three years to help combat the spread of misinformation online and help journalism outlets. [ New federal rules on Facebook and Google ads may not be in place for 2018 midterms ]Last year, Google came under intense scrutiny over the role its platforms played in the spread of misinformation during the 2016 election. Officials in Washington have been closely monitoring how tech platforms including Google, Facebook and Twitter are addressing the prevalence of misinformation on their networks. Google also plans to help news outlets' bottom line by helping them pull in online subscribers. Another feature called News Consumer Insights can help outlets measure and understand their audience with a dashboard of traffic data, Google said.

Source: Washington Post March 20, 2018 15:56 UTC