Google News will now label articles that include fact checking

Earlier this year, Google News began highlighting local coverage of major news stories with a “Local Source” tag. Google is now adding a “Fact check” label to verified articles in the US and UK on the web and mobile apps.

Google began labeling types of articles in News with In-Depth, Opinion, and Wikipedia tags seven years ago to help readers quickly differentiate between different content types. The addition of a Local Source tag in May was meant to surface local coverage of major news stories that would otherwise be overshadowed by bigger publications.

With its latest tag, Google News is aiming to help readers find fact checking in large news stories. Publishers who create fact checks and want the label are advised to use schema.org ClaimReview markup. Google will also be looking for sites that “follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks” and reserves the right to ignore a site’s markup or remove the site:

• Discrete claims and checks must be easily identified in the body of fact check articles. Readers should be able to understand what was checked, and what conclusions were reached.
• Analysis must be transparent about sources and methods, with citations and references to primary sources.
• The organization must be nonpartisan, with transparent funding and affiliations. It should examine a range of claims in its topic area, instead of targeting a single person or entity.
• Article titles must indicate that a claim is being reviewed, state the conclusions reached, or simply frame that the article’s contents consist of fact checking.

The new Fact check label is now live in the US and UK on news.google.com and in the Google News & Weather for Android and iOS.