Google kills the fact-checking snippet

Hidden in a developer blog earlier this month, Google announced that it will stop using the fact-checking snippets in search.

For a decade, the fact-checking snippet, under the name of ClaimReview, has been a way to protect users worldwide by showcasing fact-checked information when a Google user searched explicitly for an already debunked claim. It exposed citizens to reliable information first by enhancing search results for fact-check articles.

ClaimReview enabled Google to expose fact-checked content to over 120 million European Union citizens in the first half of 2024 (see data by country here).

I am the founder and CEO of fact-checking foundation Maldita.es and chair of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network. Google did not inform fact-checkers that the 10-year collaboration was coming to an end, let alone consult with us on the decision to stop using the fact-checks that we provided for free.

The company says its data shows the fact-checking snippet is “not commonly used in Search” and no longer provides “significant additional value for users,” but did not share the data or analysis that led it to make this decision.

This year’s Reuters Institute Digital News Report asked 92,000 online news consumers in 46 markets which sources they look for in search results when they’re checking information they suspect may be fake. The Reuters Institute’s independent data does not match Google’s analysis: 25% of news consumers globally said they’re looking for a fact-check when they conduct a search, including 38% in the U.S. It’s an average of 23% in Europe but in some countries, like Norway, 44% expect to get an answer from a fact-checker; in the Balkans, 31% of Serbians are looking for our content as well. The Global South isn’t left behind: 38% of Brazilians, 32% of Kenyans and South Africans, and 37% of Filipinos expect to get a fact-check when they ask a search engine if something is true.

Yet Google is discontinuing this Trust and Safety product in search to prioritize its generative AI Overviews, risking amplifying inaccuracies or hallucinations. I’ve asked Google for comment and will update this post if the company responds.