Fake news is “killing people’s minds” according to Apple boss Tim Cook, who is urging the Government to launch a public information campaign to counteract the problem.
Mr Cook called for a an awareness campaign similar to those which alerted people to health epidemics such as AIDS in the 1980s and environmental issues including the ozone layer in the 1990s.
The CEO of the world’s largest company said fake news “is a big problem in a lot of the world” following recent concerns about the role of fabricated news stories widely shared during the US Presidential election race and the EU referendum campaign.
“It has to be ingrained in the schools, it has to be ingrained in the public,” said Mr Cook. “There has to be a massive campaign. We have to think through every demographic.
“We need the modern version of a public-service announcement campaign. It can be done quickly if there is a will.”