Google, Facebook To Fight Fake “News” Sites By Blocking Them From Ad Money
Google, Facebook To Fight Fake “News” Sites By Blocking Them From Ad Money
Consumerist
Kate Cox
So in the wake of a clearly controversial election, where fake news (yes, on both sides) has been widespread, Google and Facebook are now going to try to tackle the problem, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Google’s going to ban Google ads from being placed on websites that “misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher’s content, or the primary purpose” of the site, the WSJ says.
AdSense is the key tool here. Google has had sites that “misrepresent what they market” on the no-no list for AdSense for ages, along with sites that promote hate speech, violent content, or pornography. Fake news sites are now on the list as well, although Google hasn’t made clear how, exactly, it will prevent AdSense from being used on those pages.
Facebook is also going to cut off ad revenue to bogus sites. It already prohibits “misleading, illegal or deceptive sites” from using the Facebook Audience Network to advertise, and now, a spokesperson told the WSJ, it’s explicitly adding fake news to that list.