Tim Cook: Tech companies must do more to fight fake news
Apple CEO Tim Cook believes tech companies should do more to fight fake news on the internet. They should develop more tools that filter fake news from feeds without compromising freedom of the press and expression.
Cook makes the statements in an interview with the English newspaper The Telegraph. Not only do tech companies need to develop tools to deliberately counter misleading news articles, but an information campaign for all walks of life is also necessary. It should teach people to identify fake news themselves. According to him, such a campaign can be set up quickly if there is support for it. “We are now in a period where the people who matter to the clicks and not the truth are the ones who are winning,” he says. “Spiritually it kills people.”
The Apple CEO himself does not come up with concrete proposals, but he does call on Silicon Valley to start thinking in solutions from now on. If the tech companies used the right tools, he says, “true, reliable, non-sensational, in-depth news media would win by itself.” Although the man attaches great importance to the phenomenon, which has received a lot of attention since President Trump came to power, he is ultimately optimistic. “I think it will be a short-term phenomenon after all. I don’t think fake news is what people really want in the end.’
Image: Associated Press