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Apple’s Eddy Cue: ‘We all have responsibility’ for fake news

Apple’s Eddy Cue: ‘We all have responsibility’ for fake news

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Technology needs to own the problem

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Asa Mathat/Recode

Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue, speaking at Recode’s Code Media conference earlier this evening, said that Apple as well as other technology companies “have a responsibility” for the fake news phenomenon that has arisen in recent months due to a contentious political climate.

“Since the majority of news is being read through devices and services through devices, I think we all have a responsibility for it. I certainly feel that way,” Cue said to Recode’s Peter Kafka.

Cue’s remarks come just days after Apple chief executive Tim Cook said that “fake news,” a term being applied to either blatantly false news or news stories that consumers simply don’t like, is “killing people’s minds.” Cook called for tech companies to launch a kind of counterattack against the phenomenon.

“We're very concerned about what’s news items and what’s clickbait.”

“When you look at Apple News and where it started,” Cue said, referring to the company’s own news app, “I want it to be available to everyone. But we also want to make sure the news producers are legitimate ... We're very concerned about what’s news items and what’s clickbait.”

When Kafka pressed Cue on what companies like Apple can do about fake news, Cue replied, “I think all of us in technology and services own a responsibility for it. We don’t have all the answers by any means. We need to work on it, we need to talk about it. We’re working on some things at Apple News,” he added.

He declined to share more details on what Apple plans to do about this, except to say that the tech industry needs to “share it as an industry, together.”


Eddy Cue addresses fake news problem