Skip to content

Google, Facebook partner with French media over "fake news"

Google, Facebook partner with French media over "fake news"

PARIS — French journalists are teaming up with American internet giants Google and Facebook to fight propaganda and misinformation online, mirroring similar efforts already underway in the United States and Germany.

French daily Le Monde says it is one of eight media organizations working with social networking site Facebook to fact-check questionable content ahead of France's upcoming presidential election.

At the same time, non-profit First Draft News announced the launch of CrossCheck , a verification project aimed at helping French voters "make sense of what and who to trust online." Google's News Lab is also involved.

Google and Facebook have both been under increasing scrutiny over the spread of hoaxes, conspiracy theories and propaganda — sometimes referred to by the catchall term "fake news."

Le Monde said Monday the collaboration was "an experiment."

The Associated Press