No perfect solution to deal with “fake news”, says Twitter CEO

November 12, 2018 10:44 pm | Updated November 13, 2018 12:08 am IST - New Delhi

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey taking a selfie at IIT Delhi on Monday.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey taking a selfie at IIT Delhi on Monday.

CEO and co-founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey on Monday said there was no perfect solution to deal with “fake news” and “misinformation” on social media in the context of the upcoming 2019 general election.

Calling it a multi-variable problem, Mr. Dorsey said: “We need to be 10 steps ahead of those trying to spread misinformation and need to ensure that people reading misinformation do not take action based on the information. Twitter can step in to ensure that a reported tweet that is spreading misinformation is contained and does not spread more than the impressions it has already reached.”

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. Mr. Dorsey was speaking at a town hall in IIT Delhi, organised to launch an initiative of Twitter, #PowerOf18, aimed at getting the youth to vote in the next general election.

“The platform aims to engage more young people in India to contribute to public debate and work with like-minded partners that share the same objective of encouraging civic engagement among the youth,” said managing director of Twitter Maya Hari.

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