A new study has found that Google Fact Check could not provide sufficient fact-checking information for most false claims.

The findings by Juliana Fernandes, University of Florida (UF) College of Journalism and Communications Advertising assistant professor, UF Electrical and Computer Engineering doctoral student Qiangeng Yang, UF Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research (FICS) research assistants Tess Christensen and Shlok Gilda, and UF Electrical & Computer Engineering Associate Professor Daniela Oliveira were featured in “Are Fact-Checking Tools Reliable? An Evaluation of Google Fact Check” published on arXiv.org on Feb. 20.

Fact-checking is an important way to combat misinformation on social media, especially during significant social events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. presidential elections.

According to the authors, “In this study, we thoroughly evaluated the performance of Google Fact Check, a search engine specifically for fact-checking results, by analyzing the results returned from Google Fact Check regarding 1,000 false claims about COVID-19. We found that Google Fact Check could not provide sufficient fact-checking information for most false claims, even though the results provided are relatively reliable and helpful.”

They add, “We also found that claims getting different fact-checking verdicts tend to contain different emotional tones, and different sources tend to check claims using dictionary words to different extents and at different lengths. in general, and most linguistic characteristics of input claims would not significantly influence the results they receive. Claims in different descriptions are likely to get different fact-checking results.”

Posted: February 26, 2024
Category: College News
Tagged as: Advertising, False Claims, Google Fact Check, Juliana Fernandes