Fact-checking is easy because ‘Google is free’
MY late friend and editor Gianna Maniego used to say, “A tweet is not news.” Call me old school or just simply old, but every piece of news or information I put on here needs to be verified. I used to be a banking reporter and my beats included the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Finance, National Economic and Development Authority, government financial institutions, and private banks. I had a big shoebox filled with alphabetized clippings pasted on index cards with facts about the people and institutions I regularly covered.
This was the time when we had no access to the internet, so fact-checking was challenging. As journalists, we are held to the highest standards when it comes to truth and accuracy. To this day, whether I am writing about a new shade of lipstick for my beauty column or a new CEO for a fintech, you can be assured that every piece of information on there (except for my opinions) has been factchecked. Even my opinions are informed ones.
These days, a tweet, a Facebook post, or an Instagram Story can be the basis for a news story. I cannot write without fact-checking and I honestly don’t think anybody should either. I can’t even do a product review without checking its full name on the packaging. That’s the journalistic training I have received and if people think that’s archaic, then it’s sad. As they say, “Google is free” and it’s so easy to check facts before saying or writing anything.
According to Google Trends, the Philippines is the top country in the world searching for terms “fake news” and “misinformation” in 2023. The Philippines is also in the top 10 in the world searching for “disinformation” and “fact-checking” as topics.
This is good news because it means that more Filipinos are becoming more discerning.
Google and Youtube are spearheading efforts to help educate people on the importance of factchecking.
“Access to trusted information and content is so important. Our goal is to empower media, creators and fact-checkers around the world with the tools, opportunities and capacity to help people online make informed opinions,” said Mervin Wenke, head of Communications and Public Affairs at Google Philippines.
The Google Search “About This Result” feature, which is available in Filipino, shows you more information about a particular entry on the results page. To access this information, you can click the three dots beside a result’s URL and additional context for that entry to help people understand where the information is coming from and see how Google’s systems determined it would be helpful for their query.
Youtube has also introduced Breaking News, a shelf that appears on Youtube’s homepage when a major breaking news event happens.
When you search a topic or watch videos on Youtube that are prone to misinformation, you will see an an information panel linked to third-party sources at the top of the search results or under a video you’re watching.
We always see the words “Community Guidelines” on the internet. These are the rules for how to behave on Youtube and apply to all types of content on the platform, including unlisted and private content, comments, links, community posts, and thumbnails. Creators receive a strike for every Community Guideline violation and three strikes within 90 days means permanent removal from the Youtube platform. Youtube said 94 percent of videos removed on the platform were first flagged by machines then reviewed by humans. Over 6 million Youtube channels were terminated globally for violating Community Guidelines.
The Philippines ranked 15th in the number of channels removed for violating Community Guidelines.
Google also regularly holds capacity-building workshops around the world to help media assess information online. Over the past several years, Google has trained more than 177,500 journalists in 17 countries across Asia Pacific, including the Philippines.
Further, Google and Youtube provide grants to organizations to help strengthen fact-checking efforts. Google and Youtube announced in November 2022 a $13.2 million to the International Factchecking Network (IFCN) at the Poynter Institute to launch a new Global Fact-check Fund, Google and Youtube’s single largest grant in fact-checking.
The fund were open to applications from IFCN’S network of 135 fact-checking organizations from 65 countries, including the Philippines, covering over 80 languages. Applications were open until May 15 for grants from the fund’s first phase, called BUILD.
Google is also committed to helping media and creators succeed on platforms like Youtube Shorts so that quality content and journalism thrive even on new popular formats.
Shorts on Youtube, which are fast gaining popularity among creators and viewers, are shortform videos not exceeding one minute.
“We believe the media and creators do play an important role in ensuring that more Filipinos online can connect to trusted information even on new formats like short videos,” said Wenke.