Fact Checking

With "fake news" being the big news while I try to teach our kids how to search smarter, I was thrilled to hear about Google's new search tool. It is a feature to alert users of news stories that have been fact-checked by independent organizations like Politifact or Snopes. It is a useful way to verify if what you are reading has been verified as true or not.

In my excitement, I immediately searched Google for one of my all-time favorite urban legends, The Kentucky Fried Rat. Unfortunately, no fact-check tags popped up at the the top of my search. Instantly suspicious, I did some fact-checking research to be sure this Google feature was not fake news itself. What I learned was while this tag certainly doesn't apply to every search, it will apply to more relevant, widely viewed news articles. It will be interesting to see how this develops over time as more fact checks from different sources come into play.

For now, this is what you can expect when you see a fact-checked tag:

Recent "news" that some well-meaning Facebook friends urgently shared.

And for you informed reading pleasure, add a shortcut or bookmark to this Snopes category. All the latest fact-checks at your fingertips! (And, no, Malia Obama was not expelled from Harvard.)

http://www.snopes.com/category/facts/