Google prepares to deal with misinformation ahead of European parliamentary electionsintroducing a series of services for fight fake news. The internal unit Jigsaw will mainly use the technique of prebunking, which aims to prevent misinformation from taking root. The task force will also operate in Italia.
Google against fake news in view of the European elections
Also due to the entry into force of new, stricter rules for online content, Google has announced a campaign against it disinformation in five EU countries, including Italy. Google has already established the internal Jigsaw unit a few years ago, precisely to understand how to stem the flood of fake news in situations such as the elections to renew the European Union parliament.
The countries involved in this anti-disinformation campaign are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. Jigsaw’s secret weapon are a series of animated ads on platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
The ads, developed in collaboration with researchers from Universities of Cambridge and Bristol, will present the techniques of “prebunking“. This approach aims to equip viewers with the tools needed to recognize misinformation before encountering it. The ads provide information on how to recognize false dichotomies and messages full of emotion but poor in logic. Additionally, the campaign will ask users to fill out short questionnaires on YouTube to gauge their understanding of misinformation.
Beth Goldberghead of research at Jigsaw, highlights to Reuters the importance of “prebunking” as a technique effective across the political spectrum. In a context of polarized debates, according to the scholar, prebunking represents the best strategy.
For this reason, the Jigsaw campaign, once fully operational, will translate the ads into all 24 official languages of the EU.
Although provide Timely fact checking has its value, by “debunking” fake news, does not effectively stop the spread of information. Prebunking could make a difference. Or at least that’s what we hope for in view of the next elections.
