On January 2, the Google search engine began showing false currency rates that were completely disconnected from reality. According to the values given on the first day of the year, the dollar cost almost PLN 5, and the euro exceeded PLN 5.40. There was nothing wrong with the Polish currency at that time, and the numbers provided by Google resulted – as later explained by the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański and Google itself – from a “data source error”.
The Minister of Digital Affairs announces that the law will be tightened. There will be “greater responsibility”
The echoes of the scandal are not fading away, and the Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, has just announced in an interview with “proper regulation” of the regulations. The head of the ministry emphasized that the incident clearly showed us how much responsibility rests in the hands of companies publishing data that is important to a wide range of recipients. -Reliability is the most important thing here. I feel like Google lacked some care in these courses. And this proves that we need to be aware of the responsibility of those who share this data – said Gawkowski in an interview with the portal.
The minister also revealed that members of the government are “thinking about solutions” that will allow them to “properly regulate” the issue of fake news. The politician wants those who – consciously or not – publish misleading information “to bear greater responsibility.” Especially when the entity (who is the author of the fake news) profits from publishing the information. He also added that entities providing data should verify the data they provide (Google does not do this in the case of currencies) and quickly respond to emerging errors. – I have the impression that in this situation Google’s reaction was too slow – said Gawkowski, quoted by money.pl.
The politician also emphasized that various fake news (not necessarily those about currency rates) are dangerous and may lead to “critical situations.” However, the minister did not specify how the government will oblige various entities (and perhaps Internet users?) to check the reliability of the data they publish or share.
that the company downloads current information about the Polish currency from the official tables of the National Bank of Poland. This data should have been automatically downloaded by the Google algorithm on January 1, 2024, but this did not happen. New Year’s Day was a day off from work, and on such days the NBP exchange rate tables (so-called fixing) are not updated.
Source: Gazeta
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