Web giant Google has announced a partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network, one of the leading providers of fact-checking for Google’s News and Search services, to strengthen the network’s fact-checking capabilities, expand its community, and more tightly integrate it into relevant Google services. The partnership will see Google providing funding, technological resources, and other consideration for the International Fact-Checking Network. Some of the goals of the partnership include getting more fact-checkers on board, translating the International Fact-Checking Network’s guidelines to facilitate international use, and providing free tools and volunteer time from software engineers to the International Fact-Checking Network community.
The partnership will manifest as a number of initiatives and benefits for the International Fact-Checking Network and its community, partners, and offshoots. Google plans to provide workshops, coaching, and stipends to new fact-checking organizations that join the International Fact-Checking network and use its guidelines. The company will also translate the aforementioned guidelines into at least ten different languages in order to facilitate international fact-checkers getting into the community. Finally, Google plans to offer free training and some volunteer time from its own engineers. They will attend the annual Global Fact-Checking Summit, where they will work hand in hand with fact-checkers and other members of the community to produce software solutions that help further their mission.
The International Fact-Checking Network is, exactly as it sounds, an international coalition of fact-checkers and the organizations that they work for. The International Fact-Checking Network has created a detailed Code of Principles, a sort of best practices sheet for fact-checkers, and has convinced big organizations like The Associated Press and The Washington Post to abide by the code. Google’s entire goal with this partnership is to help fight fake news and foster the creation and spread of quality news content online. This, of course, plays into the company’s core mission, being to help spread and share information throughout the world. This partnership will help Google to do just that by making it harder for readers to stumble across fraudulent or fabricated information on the internet, which in turn results in a more informed and cohesive society.
