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Google’s New Fact Checker System Attempting ‘Mission Impossible’ - Ex-EU Adviser

© AFP 2023 / PARK JI-HWANVisitors sit on a bench at a lobby of an office of Google Korea in Seoul on August 11, 2010
Visitors sit on a bench at a lobby of an office of Google Korea in Seoul on August 11, 2010 - Sputnik International
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Former European Union (EU) consultant Paolo von Schirach stated that expectations for the Google’s new program to operate a fact checker system integrated with searches were certain to fall far short of its actual performance, amid allegations of bias and censorship from various quarters.

A visitor takes a picture with his mobile phone at the stand of Google on the second day of the Mobile World Congress on February 28, 2017 in Barcelona - Sputnik International
Google Forced to Rely on Human Judgment in New Fact-Checking Program
WASHINGTON(Sputnik) — Google’s new program to operate a fact checker system integrated with searches will prove to be impossible to operate effectively, former European Union (EU) consultant Paolo von Schirach told Sputnik.

"The hard reality is that — even assuming that this is a good faith effort, without any hidden political agenda — this is ‘mission impossible’," Schirach, President of the Global Policy Institute and Professor of International Economics at BAU International University, said.

On Friday, Google said in an official blog post it has launched a program, to be available worldwide, in which results of searches and news will be integrated with information from various fact-checking websites.

However, Schirach warned that expectations for the system were certain to fall far short of its actual performance, amid allegations of bias and censorship from various quarters.

"Can search engines and social media giants reliably sift through millions of information/news items and separate truth from fiction (including propaganda, slander, disinformation, malicious interpretations)? The answer is no," he said.

Schirach acknowledged that it may prove to be relatively easy to spot an utter falsehood such as any claim that the Earth was flat.

However, "It is impossible to establish in an objective fashion whether an extreme interpretation of something ‘somewhat true,’" he pointed out.

It may be possible to spot an entire fabrication such as any false claim that an earthquake had leveled a city, Schirach said.

"But it is impossible to declare that an extreme interpretation of existing trends or opinions is a complete lie," he said.

At the beginning of the era of information instantly delivered via the Internet, many believed that "truth tellers" would be able to keep a keen eye on whoever used cyberspace to post lies, Schirach recalled.

FILE - In this March 23, 2010, file photo, the Google logo is seen at the Google headquarters in Brussels. - Sputnik International
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However, events had not confirmed those comfortable assumptions, Schirach observed.

"It did not go that way. Not by a long shot… In truth cyberspace is mostly a balkanized universe dominated by ideological outlets in which millions of people routinely seek and check the sources and ‘thought leaders’ that reinforce their preexisting biases," he explained.

Many people do not surf the Internet in search of facts, Schirach remarked.

"They surf in order to find news items/opinions that validate their already formed ideological prejudice. These users do not seek the truth, they seek reassurance that the world is working exactly the way they always believed, and the news of day simply confirms it," he said.

Schirach stated that such Internet users were willing to believe literally anything as long as the latest "news" they found was in line with what they already believed to be "the truth."

For this reason, Google and Facebook, try as they may, would not be able to restore the truth, Schirach admitted.

"At best, they may be able to flag the most egregious nonsense. But they cannot protect users from the distortions they love and seek," he concluded.

Google has said it will use fact-checking findings from such web sources as PolitiFact and Snopes.

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