Google is bringing fact-checking to its Google Image Search results, via a new "fact check" label that will appear beneath thumbnails for some images. The expanded image view will also show further details including a summary of the fact check from the linked page. The new fact check labels will appear for image results that surface from fact-checking websites from articles either about a specific image, or which reference it.

Before you freak out and assume that all images you search for on Google from any source are going to get their own "fact check" labels, this explanation is clear that's not the case. Google is summarizing the contents of fact check articles and attaching them to image search results that come from those same fact-checking sites. In other words, if you get an image result in a search from FictitiousFactCheckingSite.com and that site meets Google's criteria to be considered a fact check source, that image from that site will get the "fact check" label and a summary from the page the image originates from. It can also be accessed from Google's Fact Check Explorer and API, though.

With image manipulation and misinformation being more serious problems in recent years, adding additional contextual details for images from verified sources better enhances public understanding of events and facts, and the change joins other "fact check" labels that have already been added to general Search and Google News years ago.

Source: Google