The leading Chinese search engine Baidu has launched a fact-checking feature. Search results containing fake news or false information will now be labelled with a “rumour” label. The feature currently only works on mobile but it is expected that it will be rolled out to desktop search results in the future. It works by checking the contents of webpages against a huge database of rumours that Baidu is in the process of compiling. Cybersecurity departments from China's police forces will help to keep the database of rumours up to date, with experts on various topics also being invited to contribute. Baidu hopes that the database will eventually cover 1 million topics, making it the biggest and most ambitious anti-rumour project to date. Online rumours are a big problem in China, with fake news stories about food safety being especially common in the country.
