Google announced that they will be changing the way they deliver and rank internet searches. This is done in an effort to weed out “fake news” and other offensive content.
This initiative includes changes to the algorithm for delivering search results, as well as options for users to flag inappropriate content, including for “autocomplete”.
“Our algorithms help identify reliable sources from the hundreds of billions of pages in our index,” Google vice president of engineering Ben Gomes said in a blog post. “However, it’s become very apparent that a small set of queries in our daily traffic (around 0.25 per cent), have been returning offensive or clearly misleading content, which is not what people are looking for.”
Gomes said that Google is seeking to crack down on “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,” he wrote. Both Google and Facebook have taken steps in recent months to curb the spread of hoaxes and misinformation amid concerns these may have influenced voters in the 2016 US election.
“While this problem is different from issues in the past, our goal remains the same — to provide people with access to relevant information from the most reliable sources available.”
Gomes said the latest effort is part of an ongoing process and includes “real people who assess the quality of Google’s search results” and provide feedback. The tweak in search ranking aims “to help surface more authoritative pages and demote low-quality content,” he added. Additionally, Google will make it easier for users to flag inappropriate “autocomplete” suggestions and “snippets” of website after some past embarrassments.
“The content that appears in these features is generated algorithmically and is a reflection of what people are searching for and what’s available on the web,” Gomes said. “This can sometimes lead to results that are unexpected, inaccurate or offensive”
Gomes said the new system enables users to inform Google directly for any sensitive or unhelpful content. “We plan to use this feedback to help improve our algorithms,” he added.
