Google offers up to $ 1 million in funding per project and covers up to 80 percent of the total cost. A jury of 12 Google employees will review applications and select the recipients.
While $ 3 million will not be nearly enough to completely dispel ominous 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 fraud they are encounter, is not wrong. As Mantzarlis noted, research has suggested that ‘audiences who encounter misinformation and those who seek factual investigations do not necessarily overlap.’
The company announced the Google News Initiative as early as 2018, promising $ 300 million at the time to combat fake news and support journalistic projects. Last April, Google said it would provide up to $ 6.5 million to fight coronavirus misinformation.