Google fights back against fake news

GOOGLE is changing its search engine in an attempt to counter the spread of fake news.

The technology firm has revealed new guidelines for its human testers and said changes to identify more authoritative web pages will be used to improve the quality of ranking in search results.

Google has been criticised for “low-quality content” on its platform, which resulted in a page denying the Holocaust appearing at the top of search results.

Feedback tools are being added to the search engine so users can complain about offensive or inaccurate content.

Google Search’s vice-president, Ben Gomes, said: “Today, in a world where tens of thousands of pages are coming online every minute of every day, there are new ways that people try to game the system.

“The most high-profile of these issues is the phenomenon of ‘fake news’, where content on the web has contributed to the spread of blatantly misleading, low-quality, offensive or downright false information.”