Fighting fake news is no easy task, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said yesterday, adding the social network was taking “multi-variable” steps, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), to curb the spread of misleading information ahead of 2019 general elections in India.
Addressing a town-hall meeting at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-Delhi), Dorsey said fake news was a major problem.
“The real problem is not misinformation per se as jokes can also be categorised as misinformation. But misinformation that is spread with the intent to mislead people is a real problem,” stressed the Twitter CEO who is in India for a week-long maiden visit.
Dorsey, who got a rousing reception at IIT-Delhi with the students cheering the young entrepreneur with screams, likened solving the problem of misleading information to that of addressing a security issue, or building a lock.
“No one can build a perfect lock, but we need to stay ahead of our attackers. AI could probably help,” Dorsey said.
Conversations, Dorsey said, can help solve a lot of problems and encouraged the youth to ask tough questions to their leaders.
“You should ask your leaders what they are doing about solving global problems like climate change or what they are doing about having universal basic income,” he told the audience.
Responding to a question on the “edit button” on Twitter, he said it has been under consideration for some time, but they are yet to find a suitable way to roll out the feature for its over 326mn active users.
The “edit button” would eventually allow people to tweak the conversation.
Responding to a question on fears of AI displacing jobs, Dorsey said it was not something waiting to happen.
“AI is already displacing jobs. Programming will be done by AI and Machine Learning,” he said, adding that the important point for people is to consider what decisions people want algorithms to take and what decisions they want to take for themselves.
Twitter India also launched a new initiative titled #PowerOf18 at the event, aimed at encouraging youth to contribute in public debates and participate in civic engagement for the upcoming election season.
#PowerOf18 will encourage the youth to become change makers and “join the most important public conversation for the country - the state and national elections,” said Maya Hari, vice-president and managing director, Asia Pacific, of Twitter.
Five Indian states – Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram – are currently facing polls.
Earlier in the day, the Twitter CEO met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and discussed various steps the social network was taking to curb the spread of fake news and boost a healthy conversation on its platform.
Meanwhile, federal Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba held a meeting with Twitter officials, asking the micro-blogging site to take prompt action over “objectionable” content on the platform, an official statement said.
Vijaya Gadde, global head of Legal, Policy, Trust and Safety Lead at Twitter, and Mahima Kaul, Indian representative of Twitter, were asked “to ensure a 24x7 mechanism for prompt disposal of requisitions of law enforcement agencies for deletion of unlawful/objectionable content from their platform”.
“In the recent past, some cases of uploading and posting of objectionable content, which are likely to disrupt public peace or order and incite criminal offences including communal violence have been posted on Twitter,” it said, adding that action was taken for the removal of such content from public access.
Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey poses with students after an interaction session at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi yesterday.
