No perfect solution for fake news: Twitter CEO

coastaldigest.com news network
November 13, 2018

New Delhi, Nov 13: Jack Dorsey, the CEO and co-founder of Twitter has said there has been no perfect solution to deal with the problem of “fake news” and “misinformation” on social media in the context of the upcoming general election.

Speaking at an event in IIT-Delhi, he likened the problem to that of security and said that even the best lock can be broken and the challenge was to keep building better locks.

Responding to a question about the preparedness of social networking giants to curb the spread of fake news ahead of elections in India, Dorsey said companies need to narrow down the real and critical problem on misinformation.

He said that the company’s job is to prevent users from taking action based on misinformation. For instance, a joke can also be misinformation. Therefore it is important to understand the context, he explained.

Describing the issue as a “multi-variable problem”, Dorsey said we need to build a better mechanism to stay ahead of those spreading misinformation on the social networking platform.

He also said that Artificial Intelligence may help build a solution which may be near perfect.

Dorsey’s comments come after Twitter took down more than removed 10 million tweets from accounts suspected to be linked with misinformation campaigns.

These datasets included more than 3,800 accounts related to the IRA, originating in Russia and some 770 accounts from Iran. The datasets included 2 million photos, videos and even Periscope broadcasts. The company has also been purging accounts involved in spreading fake news and rumours.

Appearing before a senate committee in the US, Dorsey acknowledged that the micro-blogging platform was “underprepared and ill-equipped” for misuse of social media. He said that Twitter was built to function as a “public square” but failed address the problem of “abuse, harassment, troll armies, propaganda through bots.”

“We aren’t proud of how that free and open exchange has been weaponised and used to distract and divide people, and our nation,” he told senators. “We found ourselves unprepared and ill-equipped for the immensity of the problems we’ve acknowledged.”

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News Network
January 6,2020

Aboard Air Force One, Jan 6: US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions against Baghdad on Sunday after Iraq's parliament called on US troops to leave the country, and the president said if troops did leave, Baghdad would have to pay Washington for the cost of the air base there.

"We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there. It cost billions of dollars to build, long before my time. We're not leaving unless they pay us back for it," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

Trump said that if Iraq asked US forces to leave and it was not done on a friendly basis, "we will charge them sanctions like they've never seen before ever. It'll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame."

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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Friday said she will continue her fight till the convicts in the 2012 gangrape and murder case are hanged, shortly after a Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants till further order.

Devi told reporters her "hopes are dashed" but she will continue her fight.

"These convicts have no right to live. We keep getting disappointed by the system. I will continue my fight till the convicts are hanged," she said.

A Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case till further order.

Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana passed the order on a plea by the convicts seeking a stay on their execution on Saturday, February 1.

Devi said because of the loopholes in law the "criminals' lawyers had the audacity to challenge me in court that they will not be hanged".

The black warrants for execution of the death sentence against Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar Singh, were issued on January 17.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" (the fearless one) was gangraped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.

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News Network
March 4,2020

London, Mar 4: The UK government has reiterated its concern over the potential impact of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said it is continuing to follow the events in India closely.

In response to an urgent question on “Recent Violence in India” tabled by Pakistani-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Khalid Mahmood in the House of Commons on Tuesday, UK’s Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Nigel Adams said the UK engages with India at all levels, including on human rights, and also referred to the country's "proud history" of inclusive government and religious tolerance.

"The UK government also have concerns about the potential impact of the legislation (CAA),” said Adams, the Minister for Asia who was standing in for UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is on a visit to Turkey.

"It is because of our close relationship with the government of India that we are able to discuss difficult issues with them and make clear our concerns where we have them, including on the rights of minorities. We will continue to follow events closely and to raise our concerns when we have with them,” said the minister.

While Mahmood, who had tabled the urgent question for an FCO statement, described the government response as “facile”, another Pakistani-origin MP Nusrat Ghani called on the government to relay the UK Parliament's concerns to the Indian authorities.

British Sikh Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said the violence had brought back “painful personal memories” from the 1984 Sikh riots while he was studying in India and fellow Sikh MP Preet Kaur Gill also referenced 1984 in her intervention.

Other MPs sought to highlight the steps taken by the Indian authorities to restore “peace and tranquillity” in Delhi.

“He will be aware that it is not just Muslims who have been killed; Hindus have also been killed as part of the riots,” said Conservative Party MP Bob Blackman.

Scottish National Party (SNP) MP Alyn Smith sought the UK government’s intervention to share best practice around countering the online disinformation campaign being used in India to “inflame tensions”.

“We are in constant contact on these issues, and we know how important this is to Members of Parliament and their constituents, who may have family in the area,” said Adams, in his response.

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