Google and Facebook take aim at fake-news sites

New York

OVER the past week, two of the world's biggest Internet companies have faced mounting criticism over how fake news on their sites may have influenced the outcome of the US presidential election.

On Monday, those companies responded by making it clear that they would not tolerate such misinformation by taking pointed aim at fake news sites' revenue sources.

Google kicked off the action Monday afternoon, when the Silicon Valley search giant said it would ban websites that peddle fake news from using its online advertising service.

Hours later, the social network Facebook…