Ahead of the South African general election in May, Google has deployed resource training material for journalists and political parties in a bid to help prevent the spread of fake news.
According to The Next Web, the training program is part of Google's international initiative announced in March 2018 that aims to promote accurate journalism, especially during elections. The program has a $300 million fund that backs its activities.
When it was announced last year, Google said the initiative will "fight misinformation" during important and breaking news events around the world. The American tech giant added that the initiative will "create new tools to help journalists do their jobs" and "help news sites continue to grow from a business perspective."
One of the main goals of the program is to help protect political party websites against hacking and other attacks. Another significant goal is to prevent spreading false reports through a system of "flaggers" who have been trained to contact Google immediately after they spot misinformation online.
"We can easily de-monetize the website and take away the ranking. We can make sure it does not show up on Google search," communications manager of Google South Africa, Mitch Atagana, said.
By May 8, Google is expected to have trained around 100 journalists to help curb the rise of fake news. Up to nine staffers will be working on the training program that will handle Africa Check and other sites. The said website allows for public access to a filtering system that tells South African voters which news are real and which are not.
Elections in South Africa can get chaotic due to aggressive online websites that talk for or against political parties. The country has become a huge target of cyber-attacks, especially during heated events such as a general election. While Google's program will not completely solve the issue, many analysts said it is a good start in ensuring that the public will receive only authentic reports.
Meanwhile, South Africa's upcoming election is becoming a topic of debate among economic experts and political analysts. Most recommend a digitized process to ensure that the vote counting will be fair.
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is doing a great job in ensuring that voters will experience a free and fair election, experts believe an automated system will cut costs and deliver better results to the South African voting community. Ideco CEO Marius Coetzee said in his entry for Biz Community that E-voting will allow for more effective monitoring of votes and more accurate tallies.
