A mix of genres in our information? Last week, on Twitter, the editorial innovation consultant at Franceinfo Maxime Loisel alerted to the presence of a press release published by TotalEnergies on Google’s news service, Google News. This publication came up after the Cash Investigation released on January 26, entitled “Superprofits: multinationals dress in green”.
another internet user explains having noticed the same situation in 2020, for an EDF press release this time. But how to explain that an official press release from a company can slip into the news referenced by Google? 20 minutes posed the question to the company.
FAKE OFF
For almost twenty years, Google News has enabled the main news of the day to be referenced according to several themes. But how does it actually work? The search engine is based on several criteria that will enrich its algorithm. “The meaning of your query, content relevance, content quality, usability of web pages, and context (e.g. geography),” Google lists with 20 minutes.
According to the company, the search engine is becoming more and more efficient over the years. “In 2021 alone, more than 4,000 launches and modifications have been made to the search engine to make it even more relevant”.
The excuse of transparency
On the side of Google, we assume the appearance of press releases at the center of the news, as long as transparency dominates. “The wording ‘Press Release’ may appear next to the name of publications whose editors have indicated they issue press releases,” the site adds.
But isn’t Google afraid of confusion for the reader? “Our algorithms are designed to highlight information from expert and authoritative sources.” Including press releases, according to the company.
“A wide range of perspectives”
To ensure transparency, publishers must report who owns the site, the author of the article or the signatures to be well referenced among the news results. “Our goal is to provide Internet users with a wide range of perspectives to help them form their own informed opinions,” concludes the company.
For its part, the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) admits that it has not worked on this file, which has no real history.