Google Offers ‘Good News’ Only Feature

Google is rolling out a feature that allows users to hear positive news stories on command, an effort developed in conjunction with a journalism group focusing on combating negative news fatigue.

The feature, announced this week in a blog post, will exist on Google Assistant devices and will play a randomly selected positive news story focusing on an individual or a group solving a problem when prompted with the voice command "tell me something good."

"Just say 'Hey Google, tell me something good' to receive a brief news summary about people who are solving problems for our communities and our world," the company wrote in a blog post.

The feature, Google notes, is an "experiment worth trying" because it is directly designed to improve users' experiences.

It "isn’t meant to be a magic solution," the blog post continues. "But it’s an experiment worth trying because it’s good info about good work that may bring some good to your day."

The feature follows an announcement earlier in the year from Google concerning the company's efforts to battle fake news on its various platforms and search engine.

The company launched a Google News Initiative in March, which it said has the goal to fight disinformation on Google, particularly during breaking news events.

Tech companies including Google, Facebook and Twitter have faced criticism over slow responses to fake news and foreign election meddling on their platforms.

Representatives from a dozen major tech companies reportedly met Friday at Twitter's headquarters to discuss plans to combat foreign intrusions in the upcoming 2018 midterms.

Originally published: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/403598-google-offers-good-news-only-feature