Google and Facebook to restrict ads on fake news websites
During the latest presidential elections, there has been many fake news websites that have been providing with wrong information and news to the public. Companies like Facebook and Google were encouraged to do something about it and the companies found a solution.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google has announced that they will restrict fake news websites in generating money through their ad-selling services. This will be the companies' step in addressing the growing number of misinformation that has been circulating online.
A spokesman from Facebook revealed that they will explicitly ban these sites from using Facebook audience Network. Facebook will place these websites under the category of misleading, illegal or deceptive sites that are already banned from using the service which allows them to place ads on other websites and mobile apps.
Reuters reported that Google is now working on a policy to prevent these websites from using its AdSense advertising service. This is in response to the backlash the companies garnered over their role in spreading malicious information during the campaign which possibly swayed the voters to vote for Donald Trump in the latest election.
Facebook has denied that the fake news seen on social media has affected the outcome of the election. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said that only 1% of the content in Facebook is fake.
Although this move does not address the issue of hoaxes and fake news appearing in Google search results, this change is aimed at assuring that the publishes on the network are authentic and eliminate financial incentives to those who are using fake news in order to gain more hits or traffic on their website.
In a statement, Google said that they plan to move forward with its plans and restrict the ads on pages that "misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information." The company did not go into detail how they would implement or enforce this new policy.
