Big Tech giant Google has started to roll out its new “prebunking campaign” that seeks to fight so-called “misinformation” online.
Google has launched its first “prebunking” effort in Germany, AP News reports.
The company is releasing a collection of “prebunking” videos to teach Germans how to recognize so-called “disinformation” and “misinformation” before they come across it.
The videos will be promoted across multiple major social media and streaming platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
The next phase of the campaign is due to soon roll out in India as Google seeks to expand its “prebunking” efforts globally.
The prebunking technique focuses on the methods that make viral information, including information that Google deems to be “misinformation,” so contagious.
The Silicon Valley company claims that viral information about topics such as the pandemic, climate change, elections, and mass shootings, frequently uses tactics such as exaggeration, scapegoating, false comparisons, and missing context.
So far, the biggest test of the theory was Google’s prebunking campaign in Eastern Europe last fall.
The campaign included several videos “debunking” claims made about Ukrainian refugees.
On Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter, the videos were viewed 38 million times.
The number of views is equal to the three countries’ combined population.
Researchers discovered that those who had watched the videos were less likely to share information deemed to be “misinformation” by Google.
The new Google campaign in Germany will concentrate on “prebunking” images and videos that contain “misinformation.”
Tech companies prefer “prebunking,” according to Sander van der Linden, a professor at the University of Cambridge.
Prof. van der Linden, the world’s foremost authority on the subject, says “prebunking” steers clear of sensitive issues that can quickly become politically divisive.
However, “prebunking” has its own difficulties.
The impact of the videos eventually fades, necessitating the use of recurrent “booster” videos.
The videos must also be well-made and tailored for various languages, cultures, and demographics in order to keep the viewer’s interest.
Google discovered that the results of its campaign in Eastern Europe varied from nation to nation.
The videos had the greatest impact in Poland but had little to no impact at all in Slovakia.
Researchers theorize that this may be because the videos were dubbed into Slovak rather than produced especially for the local market.
Google has been extremely worried about what it considers “misinformation” online for some time.
The tech giant has been going as far as to manipulate search results and increase censorship across its platforms to prevent the mention of anything that Google considers to be “untrue.”
It will be interesting to see the types of “misinformation” that Google attempts to “prebunk.”
Although Google tends to shroud its activities under the guise of fighting “misinformation,” in practice it often simply takes the shape of censoring conservatives.
Slay News was buried in “woke” Google’s search results several months ago, making it increasingly difficult for our readers to find our home page.
READ MORE: Bill Gates Pushes Disturbing Plan to Fight ‘Digital Misinformation’
