Apple's Tim Cook Says Fake News is "killing people’s minds"

[engine]

Apple's boss, Tim Cook, said about fake news, “It’s killing people’s minds in a way.”

It's a strong statement which reflects the significant challenges of fake news publicity, made worse with the huge growth of social media. It's quick to disseminate and share, and a lot of the time people only read the headlines before finding out if it's got some substance. Of course, the perpetrators of fake news are the real problem in starting it in the first place, whether it be for monetary gain, or to influence opinion.

"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.”

He said that this crackdown would help providers of quality journalism and help drive out clickbait. “The outcome of that is that truthful, reliable, non-sensational, deep news outlets will win,” Mr Cook said.

[telegraph.co.uk...]

[keyplyr]

For anything to change, it will take powerful, visible leaders like Mr. Cook to motivate the right channels.

The underlying problem, at least in the political manner fake news has been used so far, is that many people only listen to media they agree with. They become culture-bound, parroting misinformation to each other in an effort to seek camaraderie.

Enter Fake News.... totally false information, but aligned with the readers point of views. When they then hear it from others, it's validated & they believe to be true. This has shown to be a powerful, robust tool (weapon.) The uses are almost unlimited.

[engine]

Click bait fake news is also a powerful draw pulling people in.

[keyplyr]

Yes, there currently seems to be two basic categories of Fake News web sites.

• Ideological based: religious, political, financial, social

• Profit based: click bait to generate ad income

The profit based FN can be dealt with; remove the incentive somehow or provide better incentives to publishers to self-police.

[Dimitri]

The thing is, people are also believing more and more everything they read without even thinking by themselves. This is why school and education is a priority. Educated people will not rely on a single source of information to make their mind about something. But it's clearly not the way our society is following.

[Marshall]

We do not have fake news. We have "Alternate Facts." :)

But seriously, people will gravitate to stories that fit their views because a) it is easier, b) some people truly do not like to hear or believe the truth, and c) studies have proven that people do not like being told they are wrong. Look at some of the crazy fake stories that circulated due the the US election. Pizzagate comes to mind as does the "3-5 million illegal voters." And it does not help when people in position help promote or endorse those kind of stories. It took six years for Trump to admit that Obama was born in the US, but by then, the damage was already done. (just an example, not a political statement)

As the saying goes, you cannot fix stupid.

[not2easy]

Critical thinking in general is not a cultivated practice, people who want to know why and how are viewed as problems, troublemakers in many instances. People who want answers don't actually research the topic, (TLDR) but take whatever answer is easy to access and accept it as fact. This is encouraged by those who may have other motives, by attractive packaging. It is becoming the basis of US culture and economy. I have wondered what would happen if people woke up one day and realized how they are being manipulated at every turn. But then, maybe I'm one of those troublemakers.

[NickMNS]

Critical thinking in general is not a cultivated practice,

Critical thinking should be taught in school. Math, reading and writing and critical thinking. Everything else is secondary.

[topr8]

>>Critical thinking should be taught in school. Math, reading and writing and critical thinking. Everything else is secondary.

although i agree, sadly this would be pointless as most people lack the intelligence or interest (or both) to live their life in any way other than by it being served up on a plate for them, to actually have to think is way out of the majority of people's comfort zone. why do you think tv is almost constantly consumed by virtually everyone (although obviously not the folk on WebmasterWorld)

[londrum]

fake news is just old fashioned propaganda -- it's been around forever.
they've just got a new name for it now, that's all

[tangor]

Fake news survives only because critical thinking is not engaged. Critical thinking is learned and expanded by living it. Sadly educators in so-called enlightened countries have ceased teaching critical thinking at all levels. Want to stop fake news? Get involved in education at your local level and wait for a new generation because the current crop is like that old dog and new tricks. Can be done but takes a lot of effort. Cook's statement can be taken in many ways, one of which is a lament that folks can be so stupid and two) from a tech point of view: Why hold ME responsible for people being so ill-informed and gullible?

[MrSavage]

Follow the money. Consider the two funnels of the internet. Google and Facebook. That's a big difference between say, newspaper distribution. Two newspapers for the entire globe and we wonder why there is fake news or exploitation of the industry?