Tim Cook wants companies to come together to fight fake news

Apple CEO, Tim Cook has urged companies to raise their voices in unison about the growing menace of fake news that’s floating around on Facebook and Twitter. He mentioned that people are merely complaining now, and there needs to be something like a PSA (public service announcement) to call out fake news when they emerge. Cook mentioned that fake news today is “killing people’s minds.” Those are pretty strong words coming from the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world.

Cook’s concern is justified given the kind of impact that fake news has had on the American people over the past few months. During the U.S. Presidential Election, we have come across innumerable fake news directed towards Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. While most of these were debunked subsequently, surveys have suggested that the news had a big impact on the American voters.

One of the most disturbing rumours that was spreading around late last year was pertaining to Hillary Clinton. This rumour suggested that Clinton was running a child sex ring at a pizzeria in Washington D.C. As expected, the news didn’t take long to be proven false, but we wouldn’t be surprised if some voters actually believed in this rumour, which in turn could have impacted their decision making during the elections.

It’s not known as to what Tim Cook and other Silicon Valley companies plan to do about this issue, but raising their voices is certainly a step in the right direction. Facebook has been under fire for constantly circulating fake news. However, the company has now made some changes to its news feed, allowing users to flag suspicious articles as fake which will then be directed towards fact checkers.

(Image Credits: Indiatimes)

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