Google is removing its 'In the news' label due to the fake news nightmare
The "In the news" section that sits atop all desktop Google search results will soon be replaced by a rotation of "Top stories."
Google is rebranding the "In the news" section to better distinguish between top search results for all stories and the human-vetted Google News product, a source told Business Insider. Google's change is set to take place in the coming weeks and has been in the works for awhile, according to the publication.
Mashable has reached out to Google for comment.
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Drawing the line between what's news and what's not is especially needed now, as Google and Facebook face widespread criticism over the fabricated news stories cluttering the platforms.
Fake news has been a topic of heated conversation since election night, when Buzzfeed reported that fabricated election stories on Facebook were performing better than actual news stories.
Early last week, the top result for a Google search of "final election results" was a blog post that claimed Donald Trump won the popular vote, when in fact, Hillary Clinton won it by more than 1.7 million votes.
Hours after the item appeared, the company promised to ban fake news sites from its third-party ad service, while Facebook recently announced it will do the same thing.
Google has not always included fake news in the "In the news" box. That section used to only include legitimate traditional news sources that were vetted, like the New York Times and The Washington Post.
However, back in October 2014, Google decided to start including more than just these sources inside "In the news," according to trade publication Search Engine Land. The change was to allow a "diverse range of voices" to provide users with news, including posts from Reddit and blogs.
"We are always working to give our users the best possible answer to their question," Google told the publication. "That might come in the form of a video, a press release, a blog, a photo, a social media post or a news article."
Now the inclusion of this type of content has come back to haunt Google.
Marissa is a real-time news intern at the LA office. She has a bachelor's degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. She's a free spirit.
