Google will now be warning its users regarding breaking stories where results tend to change rapidly. Selective searches will now show the warning “it looks like these results are changing quickly,” supported by a subheading that further explains, “if this topic is new, it can sometimes take time for the result to be added by reliable sources.” Google suggests that the users can check back later when Google has found more results.
The notice “when a topic is rapidly evolving and a range of sources hasn’t yet weighed in” appears on US-based English-language results. Google is planning on expanding the tool to other markets in the upcoming months.
“While Google Search will always be there with the most useful results we can provide, sometimes the reliable information you’re searching for just isn’t online yet,” the company explains. “This can be particularly true for breaking news or emerging topics, when the information that’s published first may not be the most reliable.”
The warning was spotted by Renee Diresta, an academic currently studying misinformation at Stanford University. “First time I’ve seen this response from Google Search,” DiResta said. “Positive step to communicating that something is newsy/breaking (my search was for a breaking culture war story), and highlighting that facts are not all known or consensus on what happened is still being formed.”
Danny Sullivan, public liaison for search at Google, said in a blog, “We’ve trained our systems to detect when a topic is rapidly evolving and a range of sources hasn’t yet weighed in. We’ll now show a notice indicating that it may be best to check back later when more information from a wider range of sources might be available.”
