Google News has come under scrutiny in the past for its vague criteria for reviewing websites and for permitting sites with little credibility and “bottom-tier content” on its platform. Google News’ method for ranking news results has also been questioned as it favors links that get more clicks and as a result, potentially rewards clickbait over legitimate news stories.

Domains have to apply and undergo a review process in order to appear on Google News. According to Google, only websites that meet technical specifications and adhere to content policies are accepted into Google News’ aggregation platform. Although Google News’ content policies are few and somewhat nondescript, Google does prohibit any content that “promotes violence or harassment against an individual or group based on ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” Google News does not appear to have any policies prohibiting websites that push false news or conspiracy theories.