Google and Facebook moved Tuesday to cut off advertising revenue to fake news sites, after a wave of criticism over the role misinformation played in the US presidential election.

The move by the two tech giants aims to choke off funds to an industry fueled by bogus, often sensational "news" circulating online and seen as a potential influence on public opinion.

A Google statement to AFP said new policies "will start prohibiting Google ads from being placed on misrepresentative content, just as we disallow misrepresentation in our ads policies."

The shift will mean Google restricts ads "on pages that misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher's content, or the primary purpose of the web property," the statement said.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said the company receives billions of queries daily and admitted errors had been made.

"There have been a couple of incidences where it has been pointed out and we didn't get it right.

"And so it is a learning moment for us and we will definitely work to fix it," he said in a BBC interview.

Pichai said there should be "no situation where fake news gets distributed" and committed to making improvements.

"I don't think we should debate it as much as work hard to make sure we drive news to its more trusted sources, have more fact checking and make our algorithms work better, absolutely," he said.

On Monday, internet users searching on Google were delivered a bogus report saying Republican Donald Trump had won the popular vote in addition to the electoral college.

The numbers on a blog called 70News -- contradicting official results tallied so far by states -- said Trump received 62.9 million votes to 62.2 million for Hillary Clinton.

The blog urged those petitioning for the electoral college to switch their votes to reflect popular will to scrap their effort.

- Explicit ban -

Facebook is implementing a similar policy, a spokesman said.

"In accordance with the Audience Network Policy, we do not integrate or display ads in apps or sites containing content that is illegal, misleading or deceptive, which includes fake news," a Facebook statement said.

"While implied, we have updated the policy to explicitly clarify that this applies to fake news."

One report said Facebook had developed a tool to weed out fake news but did not deploy it before the US election, fearing a backlash from conservatives after a controversy over its handling of "trending topics." Facebook denied the report.

Some critics have gone so far as to blame Facebook for enabling Trump's victory, saying it did not do enough to curb bogus news that appeared to help rally his supporters.

Stories that went viral in the run-up to the vote included such headlines as "Hillary Clinton Calling for Civil War If Trump Is Elected" and "Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President."

The prevalence of fake news has prompted calls for Facebook to consider itself a "media" company rather than a neutral platform, a move which would require it to make editorial judgments on articles.

Facebook executives have repeatedly rejected this idea, but since the election have pledged to work harder to filter out hoaxes and misinformation.

In a weekend post, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg dismissed the notion that fake news helped sway the election, and said that "more than 99 percent of what people see is authentic."

Still, he said that "we don't want any hoaxes on Facebook" and pledged to do more to curb fake news without censoring content.

"Identifying the 'truth' is complicated," he said.

"While some hoaxes can be completely debunked, a greater amount of content, including from mainstream sources, often gets the basic idea right but some details wrong or omitted."

Ken Paulson, a former USA Today editor who is dean at the media school of Middle Tennessee State University, said Facebook and other platforms should not be required to filter out news but that it would be good for business.

"My hunch is that most of Facebook's loyal customers would welcome a cleaning up of the town square," he said.

Google announces new London office, 3,000 jobs expected
London (AFP) Nov 15, 2016 - US tech giant Google on Tuesday confirmed it will expand its vast campus in central London, a move a source said is expected to bring 3,000 jobs to the British capital.

Google announced it would add a new office building to a complex currently under development behind London's King's Cross train station, which the tech firm said would be its first wholly owned and designed building outside the US.

"Here in the UK, it's clear to me that computer science has a great future with the talent, educational institutions, and passion for innovation we see all around us," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement.

"We are committed to the UK and excited to continue our investment in our new King's Cross campus."

An estimated 3,000 jobs will be created by the move, a source close to the matter told AFP.

The ten-storey building adds to Google's previously-announced plans in the British capital, with 2,500 Google employees already working in one office and more due to move into a building set to open in 2018.

In total 7,000 Google staff will eventually be working at the King's Cross hub, with no date given for the opening of the newly-announced third office.

- A 'big vote of confidence' -

Google's announcement was welcomed by Britain's finance minister, Philip Hammond, who said it signalled a "big vote of confidence" in the UK as a global tech hub.

"Our technology industry is central to securing future economic growth and this government is committed to ensuring it continues to thrive.

"It's further proof that Britain is open for business and that we continue to be an outward looking, world-leading nation," Hammond said in a statement.

The deepening commitment to London by Google comes as the government tries to reassure the business world in the wake of Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

The shock outcome of the June 23 referendum sent the pound plummeting and has led to economic uncertainty not seen for decades.

Brexit has raised fears that firms will be unwilling to invest in Britain if the country loses access to the European single market or if companies struggle to hire foreign talent.

A study released on Monday said British businesses have cancelled or postponed investments worth more than �65 billion ($82 billion, 75 billion euros).

The estimate was based on research from the Centre for Business and Economics Research (CEBR) think tank, Hitachi Capital and online pollsters YouGov, which recently quizzed 1,015 company bosses about investment decisions since the referendum.

Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to get the best deal for business while at the same time restricting immigration, despite European leaders saying freedom of movement goes hand in hand with access to the single market.

May aims to launch formal exit negotiations with Brussels by the end of March, a process which is expected to take two years.