The ever-evolving landscape of media, often referred to as new media, has given rise to the spread of false information, particularly on social media platforms. In times of crisis, images can surface from obscure sources, potentially exacerbating the situation, often disseminated by anonymous individuals. This underscores the importance of not only journalists but also citizens verifying the origins of such images.
A few years ago, Reuters partnered with Facebook, now Meta, to launch an online course, “Introduction to Digital Journalism,” which highlighted the growing concern about fake news and disinformation. However, it appears that Google has now offered a solution to address this issue.
Google is rolling out its new “About this image” tool which provides background and context about images that appear in Google search. It was first announced during the Google I/O developer conference this year and now the feature has come to life, globally.
It can be accessed by tapping on the three-dot menu in Google Image results. This new feature tributes to Google’s Fact Check Explorer initiative.
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The “About this image” tool has been created to reveal the source and background information of an image, which may include metadata when it is accessible. It also aims to furnish essential context regarding how the image has been depicted or discussed by news outlets and fact-checking websites over its history.
For instance, you could uncover the initial instance when Google Search indexed the image, and the metadata may provide information about whether the image was created by artificial intelligence.
While Google is introducing features to combat the spread of misleading images on social media— “About this image”, it’s still easy to share false images. However, in all fairness, this tool will be useful for many.
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