Apple working to combat fake news in News app, Eddy Cue says

Apple's internet service chief Eddy Cue in an interview Monday night said the tech sector has a responsibility to protect consumers from the recent scourge of fake news, revealing Apple is working on backend solutions to the problem.

When asked about fake news, Cue said it is the onus of all companies in the technology and services industries to ensure the problem does not spread. To do so, news sources and companies who disseminate news, like Apple and its News app, need to halt the spread of fake news whenever possible.

"Since the vast majority of news is now being read through devices, and through services that are provided through those devices, then I do think that we all have a responsibility for it," Cue said.

Since last year's presidential election, fake news has quickly morphed from a disinformation campaign to a real journalistic problem. A number of websites are dedicated to churning out false news stories that often reinforce previously held beliefs on hot-button topics like immigration, crime and the economy. These fake news items go viral on social media outlets like Facebook, and while most are recognized as false, some make it into the legitimate news cycle.

The issue has also impacted the highest levels of government, with Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway spreading her own bit of misinformation by justifying the president's travel ban as a response to terrorist acts like the "Bowling Green massacre." The referenced incident never happened. She later claimed to have referenced the arrest of Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green, Ky., in relation to charges of allegedly aiding terror organization al-Qaeda.

Apple does not have an answer to fake news "by any means," Cue said, but the company is working on methods to combat its spread.

"We wanted Apple News to be available to everyone, but we want to vet and make sure that the news providers are legitimate," he said, adding, "We're very concerned about all of the news items and the clickbait from that standpoint, and that driving a lot of the news coverage," he said. "We're trying to do some things in Apple News, we're learning from that and we need to share that together as an industry and improve it."

Cue failed to detail what, exactly, Apple is trying to do with Apple News, but he seemed adamant that the entire industry needs to workshop a solution.

The revelation comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook in a recent interview said fake news is "killing people's minds."

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18 Comments

SpamSandwich

said about 7 years ago

Oh, for the love of...

Start by dropping the New York Times.

Notsofast

said about 7 years ago

Wow. You lost all credibility with such an outwardly biased article yourself. Ironically, you put your own fake news in play. AppleInsider please reconsider and pull this and make the author rewrite it as your own credibility is on the line. For Pete's sake, can't we simply have some objective reporting, e.g., tell us what Eddy Cue said, we don't need your snide comments about the President and his staffer.

rogifan_new

said about 7 years ago

I'm sorry I don't need Apple filtering news for me. Does anyone even use the news app? With Facebook and Twitter who needs it?

Donvermo

said about 7 years ago

This hole 'fake news' thing is all caused by the fact that the mainstream media has shown that we can no longer rely on them to get journalism right and actually verify claims that they themselves report as news. People then look to the internet for 'sources' and then subsequently fail to verify them. If everyone and their dog can run a 'news organisation' on the web then it comes as no surprise that many if not most of them have even lower journalistic standards than the current mainstream media. This does not however mean that there are no legitimate 'news organisations' on the web that do actually practice proper journalism, the problem is that the average joe can no longer distinguish between what is tabloid gossip and what is factual news.

People are lazy and they expect journalists to do the investigative work for them, as they should, and not have to scour the internet to verify if the cited sources indeed check out. Fix the credibility issue by either having main stream media clean up their act or provide a solid and easy to find alternative for the masses that they can rely on.

9secondkox2

said about 7 years ago

Back in the day this was called censorshi o and it's universally recognized as bad.

I dont need Apple or anyone else "curating" my news according to what they deem appropriate. Or what they feel should be called "real."

the scaru part part of this whole stupidly named "fake news" phenomena is that it's nothing new. It's something that's been around forever. You'll have FOX and CNN reporting the same thing with different perspectives and then you'll have the inquirer.., or another more obscure source.

People know now what's what.

If if anything it's been the people crying "fake news!" Who've spread the fake news so far.

Like this article for example. You don't just get a report. You get someone's opinion about the facts.

You want ant a laugh? Read the pentagon report on Russia's "hacking" of the election. Somehow they managed to call trying to influence people via the internet (like that's anything new - see al queda, isis, Al Jazeera, Obama, Russia, Korea, etc) "hacking." It's a joke. Somehow some democrats having inadequate security which was taken advantage of by a known hostile power (no laughing matter) ge S turned into a kardashian level attack on the election integrity.

In reality, people voted for who they wanted, the states with most electoral votes ensured due process and boom. We have a legit election. Just as it has been. No hacking, etc.

Losing control of the narrative doesn't constitute hacking. It just means people have thought for themselves and didn't make the choices you'd have preferred. People aren't robots to be manipulated and this election proves it. Instead of rioting and harming your fellow citizens, you should respect their choice. Just as they have yours the last 8 years.

Its re those who are screaming about fake Jews like it's this new thandroid by that I'm confused bcerned about. Sounds more like a play to force feed you their agenda while having you unknowingly agree to it under the guise of killing an imaginary monster.

THAT would indeed be killing peoples minds.