Microsoft won’t label fake news as false in an attempt to avoid ‘censorship’ cries

Microsoft announced in June that it was buying Miburo, a disinformation and cyber-threat analysis company headed by Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and counterterrorism expert. — Photo by Turag Photography on Unsplash

Microsoft Corp. won’t label social media posts that appear to be false in order to avoid the appearance that the company is trying to censor speech online, President Brad Smith said in an interview with Bloomberg News, hinting that the company is taking a different approach than other technology firms in dealing with disinformation.

"I don’t think that people want governments to tell them what’s true or false,” Smith said when asked about Microsoft’s role in defining disinformation. "And I don’t think they’re really interested in having tech companies tell them either.”