 |
| To notify you when Google doesn't have a reliable answer |
Google is testing a new feature to warn users when they search for topics that may lead to unreliable results.
The world's most popular search engine's decision is to provide people with more basic information about the rapidly changing trend of emergency online.
The new reminder reminds users that the results shown are changing quickly and tells them, if the topic is new, it can sometimes take a while for trusted sources to add the results.
Google confirmed that it started testing the feature about a week ago. Currently, the company claims that opinion comes in a small number of searches that tend to develop hot topics.
Companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook often struggle to deal with the massive amount of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and unverified reports circulating online.
In the past, in extreme cases, companies have largely avoided removing content by invoking free speech values.
During the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 US election, some companies have taken unprecedented steps to crack down on popular accounts spreading misinformation.
Google Terminology warns users against blocking content and reflects a gradual, long-term approach. This is to notify users of questionable or incomplete information.
Google said, "When someone searches our search engine, we will try to provide them with the most relevant and reliable information." But there is much that is new.
The notice doesn't say whether the content you see in search results is true or false. However, this situation is constantly changing and more information may come later.
Google warns you about reliable answers
This feature builds on recent efforts by Google to help users improve their search skills or better understand the context of the content they are searching for.
In April 2020, the company released a feature that notifies users when there aren't enough useful matches to search.
In February 2021, the company added an "About" button next to most search results showing a short description of Wikipedia, if available.
The new warning is part of the trend of big tech companies to give people more background information about the potential for new information to be wrong.
For example, ahead of the 2020 US election, Twitter released several features to warn users if the information they see has not been verified.
There are still questions about how this feature works. It is not clear what sources Google considers reliable in a given search result. The number of reliable sources that must be evaluated before the current topic loses its rating.
As this feature is widely adopted, there will likely be more discussion about how to implement it.