Page 10 - MEDIA MONITORING - JULY 10, 2018

A24
TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 10 July 2018
YouTube aims to crack down on fake news, support journalism
By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Google’s YouTube says it is taking several steps to ensure the veracity of news on its ser- vice by cracking down on misinformation and sup- porting news organizations. The company said Monday it will make “authoritative” news sources more promi- nent, especially in the wake of breaking news events when misinformation can spread quickly.
At such times, YouTube will begin showing users short text previews of news sto- ries in video search results, as well as warnings that the stories can change. The goal is to counter the fake videos that can pro- liferate immediately after shootings, natural disasters and other major happen- ings. For example, YouTube search results prominently showed videos purporting to “prove” that mass shoot- ings like the one that killed at least 59 in Las Vegas were fake, acted out by “crisis actors.”
In these urgent cases, tradi- tional video won’t do, since it takes time for news outlets to produce and verify high- quality clips. So YouTube aims to short-circuit the mis- information loop with text
This image provided by Google shows a page of Local news in the free YouTube app for TV
He said it would be prefer- able if Google used people instead of algorithms to vet fake news.
“Facebook was reluctant to go down that path two and half years ago and then they did,” he said. YouTube also said it will commit $25 million over the next several years to im- proving news on YouTube and tackling “emerging challenges” such as misin- formation.
That sum includes funding to help news organizations around the world build “sustainable video opera- tions,” such as by training staff and improving pro- duction facilities.
The money would not fund video creation.
The company is also testing ways to counter conspiracy videos with generally trust- ed sources such as Wikipe- dia and Encyclopedia Bri- tannica. For common con- spiracy subjects — what YouTube delicately calls “well-established historical and scienti c topics that have often been subject to misinformation,” such as the moon landing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bomb- ing — Google will add infor- mation from such third par- ties for users who search on these topics.q
screens.
stories that can quickly pro- vide more accurate infor- mation. Company execu- tives announced the effort at YouTube’s New York of- ces.
Those of cials, however, of- fered only vague descrip- tions of which sources You- Tube will consider authori- tative. Chief Product Of- cer Neal Mohan said the company isn’t just compil- ing a simple list of trusted news outlets, noted that the
de nition of authoritative is “ uid” and then added the caveat that it won’t simply boil down to sources that are popular on YouTube. He added that 10,000 hu- man reviewers at Google — so-called search quality raters who monitor search results around the world — are helping determine what will count as authori- tative sources and news stories.
Alexios Mantzarlis, a Poyn-
Associated Press
ter Institute faculty mem- ber who helped Facebook team up with fact-check- ers (including The Associat- ed Press), said the text story snippet at the top of search results was “cautiously a good step forward.”
But he worried what would happen to fake news vid- eos that were simply rec- ommended by YouTube’s recommendation engine and would appear in feeds without being searched.
Uber poised to make investment in scooter-rental business
By The Associated Press
Uber is getting into the scooter-rental business.
The ride-hailing company said Monday that it is in- vesting in Lime, a startup based in San Mateo, Cali- fornia.
“Our investment and part- nership in Lime is another step towards our vision of becoming a one-stop shop for all your transportation needs,” Rachel Holt, an Uber vice president, said in a statement.
Uber will add Lime motor- ized scooters to the Uber mobile app, giving con- sumers another option for getting around cities, es- pecially to and from public transit systems, Holt said. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Lime co-founders Toby Sun
This July 3, 2018, photo shows scooters by Lime in Paris. Uber is
more than 70 locations in the U.S. and Europe and leave them parked for the next customer to ride. The company is looking to buy tens of thousands of motor- ized foot-pedal scooters to expand its reach.
The scooters aren’t without their critics, however, who consider them a nuisance and a hazard to pedestri- ans. Of cials in cities like San Francisco have been torn between promoting cheap and relatively non- polluting transportation and keeping sidewalks safe and clear of clutter.
For Uber, the Lime invest- ment follows its purchase for an undisclosed sum of Jump Bikes, which rents electric bicycles in a half- dozen cities including San Francisco, Chicago and
Washington.
San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi aims to turn Uber into the Ama- zon.com of transportation, a single destination where customers can go to hitch arideinacarandonother modes of transportation — even buy rides on city buses and subway systems. Uber also has a food-deliv- ery service.
Rival Lyft is looking for new rides too. Last week, it bought part of a company called Motivate that op- erates Citi Bike and other bike-sharing programs in several major U.S. cities in- cluding New York and Chi- cago. It will rename the business Lyft Bikes. Terms of that deal were not dis- closed either.q
getting into the scooter-rental business.
Associated Press
and Brad Bao wrote in a blog that Uber’s “sizable in- vestment” is part of a $335 million fund-raising round led by GV, the venture- capital arm of Google par- ent Alphabet Inc. They said
Alphabet is among several new investors. The money will help Lime expand and develop new products. According to the com- pany website, customers can rent Lime scooters in