Apple CEO Claims ‘Fake News’ Is Killing People’s Minds

Fact checked

Apple CEO TIm Cook says that more needs to be done to counteract 'fake news'

The chief executive of the the world’s largest company, Apple, is calling on governments to launch a public information campaign to fight the scourge of fake news, which is “killing people’s minds”.

Tim Cooke says that the ‘epidemic’ of false reports “is a big problem around the world” which requires a crackdown by the authorities and technology firms.

He believes technology companies should create tools that would help diminish the volume of “fake news”

fake-news

The Daily Telegraph reports:

Made-up news reports trying to promote a particular agenda gained huge traction on social media in the US during the election.

“It has to be ingrained in the schools, it has to be ingrained in the public,” said Mr Cook. “There has to be a massive campaign. We have to think through every demographic.

“We need the modern version of a public-service announcement campaign. It can be done quickly if there is a will.”

The rise of fake news was being driven by unscrupulous firms determined to attract online readers at any cost, he said.

“We are going through this period of time right here where unfortunately some of the people that are winning are the people that spend their time trying to get the most clicks, not tell the most truth,” he said. “It’s killing people’s minds in a way.”

Tech firms, which have been criticised for doing too little, also need to up their game, he said.

“All of us technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news.

“We must try to squeeze this without stepping on freedom of speech and of the press, but we must also help the reader. Too many of us are just in the complain category right now and haven’t figured out what to do.”

 

2 Comments

  1. It may be destroying SOME peoples’ minds, but for many others, it has started them THINKING more clearly. Their disappointment in discovering that the news sources that they have trusted all their lives has been misleading and manipulating them, has caused many thinking people to search elsewhere for information. They, like myself, have learned to read, but not blindly trust any news source, but rather, to dig deeper into any story and try to authenticate it from other sources.

    I like this website (YourNewsWire) and many of the authors (including you, Carol) yet if the reported event matters to me, I STILL will search elsewhere for confirmations.

    So, while the MSM have caused so much damage through the mindless “snowflakes” etc, it may be even that it has caused those who CAN think, to start doing so, more critically.

  2. ” Our job is not to tell the truth, we are opinion molders.” Walter Cronkite CBS News
    ” American citizens, largely insulated form what is really happening around the rest of the world around them by layers of entertainment, technology and other distractions are being programmed to accept the brutality, surveillance and de-humanizing treatment of the American Police State as things happening to other people. Unable to distinguish what is real and unreal and increasingly inclined to accept as normal the tactics being played out before them in Hi-Def, not only ceases to be outraged by the treatment meted out to their fellow citizens but takes joy in it. Its all spectacle, Reality T.V. teaches acceptance of the Police State, they deserve.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.