Google and Facebook have both announced that they will step up efforts to combat the problem of fake news on their sites. The problem was highlighted during the recent US presidential elections, when fake news stories appeared on the sites, with some commentators then questioning whether they could have affected the result of the vote. Google has said that it is working to create a new policy that will prevent Google ads from showing if they are from sites that “misrepresent, misstate or conceal information”. This will cover fake news sites. Meanwhile, Facebook has clarified that its existing policy of removing “misleading, illegal or deceptive sites” from the Facebook Audience Network covers fake news sites.
