Google has announced that it would spend $6.5 million toward fighting the spread of misinformation around the coronavirus pandemic.
Funding will go toward fact-checkers, news organizations and nonprofits around the world. The money will also help certain news outlets expose and track coronavirus misinformation.
“Helping the world make sense of this information requires a broad response, involving scientists, journalists, public figures, technology platforms and many others,” Alexios Mantzarlis, head of News and Information Credibility at Google’s News Lab, wrote in a blog announcing the funding.
PolitiFact and Kaiser Health News will use some of the funds to expand their fact-checking efforts, while LatamChequea will provide what Mantzarlis described as a “hub” to help coordinate the work of almost two dozen Spanish-language fact-checking groups.
The funds will also go to similar groups in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, and to the International Fact-Checking Network, a global advocacy group.
Google will work with Meedan, a journalism non-profit, and public health experts to develop a database to aid reporters. Notably, the company is also experimenting with how to best feature a dedicated fact check page in the COVID-19 section of Google News.
Besides Google, governments are also working to address the issue. In March, the UK government said it would provide £500,000 (approximately $623,000) to fight coronavirus-related misinformation, with some of that funding going to social media influencers. In both cases, the funding is unlikely to address the problem completely, but it could save lives.
We’ve also seen companies like Samsung and Sony announce efforts to help during the pandemic. Sony, for example, established a $100 million fund, with the money earmarked toward helping front-line medical staff, students learning from home and creatives hard hit by the virus.
