Apple CEO Tim Cook has a dire warning about the effects of “fake news.”
“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,” the technology leader told the Daily Telegraph. He added that these faux reports are “killing people’s minds in a way.”
The proliferation of fake news is a burgeoning issue, most notably during the 2016 election, thanks in large part to sharing on social media. The phenomenon has led to politicians on both sides of the aisle to complain that these misleading stories have been damaging. Both Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama blamed fake news, in part, for Clinton’s loss in the presidential election to President Trump.
Cook pinned the responsibility of curbing fake news on technology companies.
“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,” Cook said.
He added that a crackdown will help “truthful, reliable, non-sensational, deep” news outlets “win” in their struggle to convey real news against the tide of fake news click bait.
“The [rise of fake news] is a short-term thing — I don’t believe that people want that at the end of the day,” Cook said.
Some social media outlets, like Facebook, have already taken steps to stem the tide of fake stories, but it is yet to be seen how effective these efforts will be.
