A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on April 6, 2022, in Bucha, Ukraine. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images/FILE) The White House says it “remains to be seen” whether
Apple CEO Tim Cook wants the tech industry to take action against “fake news” stories that are polluting the web.
“There has to be a massive campaign. We have to think through every demographic,” Cook said in a rare interview.
Speaking with The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Cook also said “all of us technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news.”
Other leading tech company CEOs, like Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, have spoken about the problem in recent months. But Cook’s comments were much more frank.
According to the Telegraph, he said made-up stories and hoaxes are “killing people’s minds.”
And he called the “fake news” plague “a big problem in a lot of the world.”
The term “fake news” was originally coined to describe online stories that are designed to deceive readers. Often times these stories are shared on Facebook and other social networking sites to generate profits for the creators. Other times the stories are essentially propaganda made up for political purposes.
These kinds of stories received widespread attention before and after the American election. Fictional stories with titles like “Pope Francis shocks world, endorses Donald Trump for president” won millions of clicks.
It can be very difficult for web surfers to tell the difference between legitimate news sources and fakes.
That’s where companies like Apple come in.
In the Telegraph interview — part of a multi-day European trip — Cook said “too many of us are just in the complain category right now and haven’t figured out what to do.”
He urged both technological and intellectual solutions.
“We need the modern version of a public-service announcement campaign. It can be done quickly if there is a will,” Cook told the newspaper.
What he described is music to the ears of media literacy advocates.
“It’s almost as if a new course is required for the modern kid, for the digital kid,” Cook said.
There are scattered efforts in some schools to teach media literacy, with a focus on digital skills, but it is by no means universal.
When asked if Apple would commit to funding a PSA campaign, an Apple spokesman said the company had no further comment on Cook’s interview.
The Apple CEO also suggested that tech companies can help weed out fake stories, though he added, “We must try to squeeze this without stepping on freedom of speech and of the press.”
Apple’s own Apple News app has been credited with being a relatively reliable place to find information.
The company “reviews publishers who join Apple News,” BuzzFeed noted last December.
And the app has a “report-a-concern function where users can flag fake news or hate speech.”
Facebook recently started working with fact-checkers to test “warning labels” that show up when users share made-up stories.
Cook, in the newspaper interview, expressed optimism that the “fake news” plague is a “short-term thing — I don’t believe that people want that at the end of the day.”
CNNMoney (New York) First published February 11, 2017: 8:00 PM ET
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Lewis Hamilton says he remains undeterred in his fight against racial injustice. His comments came as the FIA, motorsport’s global governing body, announced it will not investigate the Formula One champion for wearing a T-shirt honoring Breonna Taylor at the Tuscan Grand Prix.
Hamilton, a six-time world champion who claimed the 90th race win of his career on Sunday, wore a T-shirt with the words “ARREST THE COPS WHO KILLED BREONNA TAYLOR” on the front, and “SAY HER NAME” above a photo of Taylor on the back, before the race and at the podium ceremony.
Having originally said it would be considering the matter, the FIA will instead clarify its guidelines as to what will be permitted for drivers and teams both pre and post-race.
The FIA is aiming to put these guidelines in place ahead of the next race of the 2020 season which is scheduled to take place in Sochi, Russia on September 27.
Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, videos and features
“Want you to know I won’t stop, I won’t let up, I won’t give up on using this platform to shed light on what I believe is right,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram.
“I want to thank those of you who continue to support me and show love, I am so grateful.
“But this is a journey for all of us to come together and challenge the world on every level of injustice, not only racial
“We can help make this a better place for our kids and the future generations.”
READ: These were the Black victims Naomi Osaka honored on face masks
Taylor was fatally shot in her Louisville home in March as three plainclothes police officers executed a “no-knock” warrant.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is conducting an investigation into the incident and the FBI is investigating whether Taylor’s civil rights were violated. Taylor’s mother has filed a lawsuit in civil court against the three officers identified in connection with her daugher’s death.
No officer has been charged with a crime. Two of the officers remain on the force, while a third was fired and is appealing to get his job back.
“It’s been 6 months since Breonna Taylor was murdered by policemen, in her own home. Still no justice has been served. We won’t stay silent,” Hamilton posted on Twitter on Sunday, alongside photos of himself wearing the T-shirt.
He also added in a post-race conference: “It took me a long time to get that shirt and I’ve been wanting to wear that and bring awareness to the fact that there’s people that have been killed on the street and there’s someone that got killed in her own house.
“We have to continue to raise awareness … I think we just have to continue to push on the issue.”
The 35-year-old has been a powerful voice during the Black Lives Matter movement by calling on motorsport to do more to combat racism and attending a BLM protest in London earlier this year.
He has also announced plans to set up a commission in his name to increase diversity in motorsport.
Victory at the Tuscan GP means Hamilton is now one short of equaling Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 race wins in F1.
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The White House says it “remains to be seen” whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will ultimately face justice for alleged war crimes after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest Friday, but the US will continue to help Ukraine document Moscow’s misdeeds.
“We’re going to stay committed to helping Ukraine as they document and analyze and preserve the kinds of evidence of the war crimes, the atrocities, the crimes against humanity that have occurred inside Ukraine at the hands of Russian forces,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday.
The United States does not recognize the ICC, but Kirby said the US is “not going to back off our belief that accountability for these war crimes has got to be had, however long that takes.”
Kirby said the US wants to see “any perpetrators of war crimes held to account,” but he declined to say if US President Joe Biden would tell law enforcement to arrest Putin if he came to the US. He said it was “very, very unlikely” the Russian leader would travel to the United States.
Asked if the US would ask other countries like Israel or India – who also do not recognize the ICC – to arrest the Russian leader, Kirby said it would “have to be sovereign decisions those leaders make.”
Remember: Russia also does not recognize the ICC, and the court does not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin would either have to be turned over by Moscow or arrested in a foreign country for him to face charges from the court.
Moscow’s ties to Beijing: Tapper also asked Kirby if there was any intelligence indicating China has decided to give Russia weapons to help with the country’s assault on Ukraine.
“We don’t believe that they’ve taken it off the table still, but we also don’t see any indication, any confirmation, that they’re moving in that direction or that … they have sent lethal weapons,” Kirby said.
“We don’t think it’s in their interest. It shouldn’t be in anybody’s interest, quite frankly, to help Mr. Putin continue to slaughter innocent Ukrainians,” he added.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will fly to Moscow next week to meet with Putin in his first visit to Russia since Putin launched his devastating invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago.
The visit will be seen as a powerful show of Beijing’s support for Moscow in Western capitals, where leaders have grown increasingly wary of the two nations’ deepening partnership as war rages in Europe.
CNN’s Nectar Gan and Anna Chernova contributed to this report.
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Nearly 50 years later, the Apache and Yaqui actor and activist said she would do it all again “in a heartbeat.”
In an interview with Variety ahead of an appearance this weekend at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Littlefeather reflected on the now famous 60-second speech she gave when she declined an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando.
“I did not do this totally for Marlon. I did not do this on my behalf,” she told the publication. “I did this for all Native people everywhere who suffered from racial prejudice and discrimination. I did it for all of those who were born under the umbrella of genocide, in the United States, and Canada, and for all of us who have suffered through extreme stereotypes which were not of our choosing.”
Littlefeather also discussed how she was shunned by the entertainment world after her speech, which referenced the standoff at Wounded Knee. That same year, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the South Dakota town but faced resistance from federal law enforcement.
“(The FBI) went around Hollywood and told people not to hire me. If they did, they would shut their film production down,” she said. “In addition, other people were let on talk shows like Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, and other popular talk shows. They could go on there and talk about me, but I was never allowed to go on them and represent myself.”
Brando, unlike many in the industry, remained an ally. The two met through Brando’s interest in Indigenous issues and Littlefeather said she appreciated the actor’s “ability to see through the baloney and the prejudice.”
“He understood racial prejudice in a way that most people do not, and that was refreshing to me,” she added.
Littlefeather’s remarks come about a month after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it had apologized for the abuse she endured during and after her speech. On Saturday, the Academy is hosting a conversation with Littlefeather in an event that will also feature other Indigenous performers and speakers.
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