Expect to see fact check labels next to some of the search results popping up inside Bing.
It can be hard to tell fact from fiction these days, but to make the job a little easier, Microsoft is adding new tools to its Bing search engine that should spot the worst fake news stories before they have a chance to be widely reported as genuine.
Google rolled out a similar feature last year that it expanded back in April, and it’s an issue the likes of Facebook and Twitter have had to deal with as well. With so much information out there, how do you know who you can trust (besides TechRadar of course)?
In Bing’s case the search site will throw up what it calls « fact check labels » next to stories of a dubious nature – in practice that means you might see a debunking link from Snopes or PolitiFact next to the news or the article you were originally looking for.
Bing says these sort of labels are going to be popping up in a broad range of categories covering news, health, science and politics, and if webmasters want to prove they’re on the level they can add certain references and backup links to their original posts.
« The label may be used on both news articles and web pages that Bing has determined contain fact check information to allow users to have additional information to judge for themselves what information on the internet is trustworthy, » says the Bing team .
The new features are unlikely to be able to spot every fake news story but they should at least filter out the worst offenders from your search results. The latest stats show Bing has climbed to a 33% share of the desktop market in the US and 26% in the UK.
