Google will provide up to $ 1 million in financing per project and will cover up to 80% of the total costs. A jury of 12 Google employees will review the applications and select the recipients.
While $ 3 million is not enough to completely eradicate virulent misinformation about the vaccine, it will certainly help, especially if fact-checkers can use the funds to proactively reach people who have no idea that the falsehoods they encounter are incorrect. As Mantzarlis points out, the research suggests that “the public who are faced with incorrect information and those who seek fact checking do not necessarily overlap”
The company announced the Google News Initiative in 2018 and, at the time, pledged $ 300 million to fight fake news and support journalism projects. Last April, Google said it would provide up to $ 6.5 million to combat misinformation about the coronavirus.