From Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos to former Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer, US tech executives have sought in recent days to dispel the notion there is a swift solution to the proliferation of spurious or insidious information on the Internet, a phenomenon critics said wields an outsized and unhealthy influence on public discourse and elections.
Baidu Inc (百度) president Zhang Yaqin (張亞勤) said China faces similar challenges, despite operating one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated online surveillance machines.
Companies in China, where freedom of speech is curtailed by censorship programs, have long used a mix of advanced technologies and human cybercops to police the Internet.
Baidu, China’s largest search engine, employs technology to spot potentially false information before turning to local agencies such as the Cyberspace Administration of China to verify items. One of the country’s three largest Internet players, it checks 3 billion claims of fake news every year.
“Every year we see somewhere around 3 billion claims, requests that we need to verify that might turn out to be fake news,” Zhang said. “We’re using a combination of technology and content authorization to minimize the fake news.”
From Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) to Sina Corp’s (新浪) Weibo (微博), China’s social media employ technology and armies of vetters to scour its services for undesirable content, which goes beyond rumors and unsubstantiated claims to include any and all information deemed harmful to social stability.
Yet, even the best-funded online operators have difficulty keeping up: China’s cybercops last month fined Tencent, Weibo and Baidu for carrying illegal content.
Days later, Weibo began recruiting and rewarding “supervisors” from among its own users to report problems.
“We have an obligation to make sure the user gets good content, but it continues to be a challenge for us, for other companies in China and companies in the US,” Zhang said.
The problem persists despite China having some of the strictest rules aimed at preventing the spread of “false news.”
It recently established regulations forcing forum-posters to register with their real identities and its laws threaten jail time for posting defamatory false information, Weibo’s latest annual report said.
However, Zhang said fixing the problem required the use of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and even closer cooperation with relevant government regulators.
Pressure is building on social media services from Google to Twitter to try and curb the proliferation of fake news and targeted ads.
Stamos last week said it was very difficult to spot fake news and propaganda using computer programs.
Executives from Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc are scheduled to testify before US Congress on Nov. 1 about Russian use of their sites to influence last year’s US presidential election — a hot-button topic that the social media and Internet services are under pressure to address.
Stamos, who is handling Facebook’s investigation, said that technical solutions could have unintended consequences of ideological bias.
“I’m not sure you can say that is Facebook’s job, they’re not in the news business, they pass along other people’s news,” Ballmer said. “Same thing with Google. ”
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
PORTFOLIO REBALANCING: The adjustments in three global equity indices reflect rising investor appetite for semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related stocks Taiwan’s weighting in major global equity indices compiled by MSCI Inc is to rise modestly following the latest quarterly review, underscoring the market’s expanding role in emerging-market portfolios, as global investors continue to favor the nation’s technology sector. Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is to increase by 0.30 percentage points to 23.76 percent, after the changes take effect at the close of the May 29 session. Its weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index is to rise 0.37 percentage points to 27.16 percent, while that in the MSCI All Country World Index is to edge up slightly to
The Hsinchu County Government’s Labor Affairs Department yesterday said that it has received a plan from cosmetics brand Taiwan Shiseido Co (台灣資生堂) detailing mass layoffs at its plant in Hukou Township (湖口). While the labor authorities did not disclose the number of employees to be laid off, Japanese news media earlier in the day reported that the closure of the company’s factory in Hukou would result in 170 employees losing their jobs. Shiseido followed the law by reporting its layoff plan, the department said, adding that authorities would closely monitor negotiations between the management and affected employees and step in if any
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Tuesday confirmed a cyberattack targeting some of its North American facilities, but said the affected factories were gradually returning to normal. The company, known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said that its cybersecurity team “activated the response mechanism and implemented operational measures to ensure the continuity of production and delivery.” “The affected factories are resuming normal production,” the company said in a statement. Hon Hai had previously described it as a “technical issue,” when news of the cyberattack first surfaced. The confirmation followed media reports of a large-scale information technology system incident that broke out at
RSS