Fake news has become a huge problem because some people do not bother double checking what they read and just share it, which in turn causes the fake news to spread and in some cases causes panic and outrage which could have been easily avoided. We’ve see how companies like Facebook and Google are tackling the problem, and now Mozilla wants to help as well.The company, best known for its Firefox browser, has announced a new initiative dubbed the Mozilla Information Trust Initiative. However instead of taking active measures when it comes to clamping down on fake news, what Mozilla’s initiative is about is more like they want to bring companies and interest groups from all parts of the web to understand the fake news problem, and to collectively come up with a way to deal with it.
According to Katharina Borchert, Mozilla’s chief innovation officer, “We believe that having more eyes and brains on anything usually makes it better. If we don’t manage to lessen the mental burden on people constantly worrying if information is trustworthy, it lessens the value of the open web for everyone who participates, and poses a lot of problems downstream.”
Basically it sounds like while Facebook and Google are clamping down on fake news from their own end, Mozilla’s initiative is about dealing with the main crux of the problem. Whether or not they will be successful and coming up with a collective answer remains to be seen, but it is a step in the right direction.
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