Google adds 'Fact-Checked' labels for search images to limit misinformation

Google announced that it will start identifying some misleading photos in its specific search tool for images with a fact-check label. This new feature is introduced to help people navigate issues around determining the authenticity of images, and make more informed decisions about the content they consume.

According to Mashable, the fact-check label will appear on any image that is included in an article that fact-checks a photo or another claim. This new feature is a step to limit the spread of misinformation. Google used these fact-checking labels for years in its main search results and on video-streaming site YouTube. In December, the search giant said fact checks appear more than 11 million times each day in search results.

Google product manager Harris Cohen wrote in a blog post announcing the new fact-check labels,"Photos and videos are an incredible way to help people understand what's going on in the world .But the power of visual media has its pitfalls,especially when there are questions surrounding the origin, authenticity or context of an image."

As per the blog post, when a user searches for an image, some of the images will reflect a 'Fact check' label just underneath the thumbnail of the image. Once the user clicks on such an image to enlarge it, a larger preview of the photo will show up with a short summary of the fact-check and direct users to its source.

Google says that the fact check label would appear for both cases - if the fact check article is about the specific image or if the fact check article contains that image in the story.

These labels appear for fact checking articles from independent sources that meet the criteria of Google, as per the statement.

The tech company added that these sources rely on ClaimReview, which is an open source method allowing publishers to indicate to search engines that the content that has been fact checked.