Google to start including fact-checks on images

Google will start including fact checks on images on its platform, building on the fact-checking already implemented on the search engine’s “search” and “news” features, the company announced Monday. 

When users search on Google Images they may start seeing a “fact check” label under the thumbnail in image results, it said in the announcement. 

Users will see a summary of the fact check on the underlying web page when they click to see results of the image in a larger format. 

“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,” Google said. 

Google said fact-check labels on results come from “independent, authoritative sources on the web” that meet the search engine’s criteria. 

As with its “search” feature, Google said a fact check label in Google Images does not affect the search engine’s ranking, which is designed to “surface the most relevant, reliable information available.” 

In December, Google said its fact-checks appear more than 11 million times a day in search results globally. 

Tech companies have embraced fact-checking to varying degrees as experts warn of growing misinformation efforts online.

President Trump criticized Twitter last month after the platform placed its first fact-check on two of the his tweets that made unsubstantiated claims on mail-in ballots and voter fraud.

Competing social media platform Facebook, however, has decided not to label misinformation shared by politicians. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg defended the decision last month after Trump lashed out at Twitter, saying he doesn’t think Facebook should be “the arbiter or truth.”