Tim Cook of Apple: "The news was getting a little crazy"

Apple has always believed in conservation – and that's even true when it comes to news, Apple's CEO Tim Cook said Monday.

Earlier in the day, Apple unveiled a 2018 mid-term elections section in its News app, promising American readers organized the content until November. It will offer coverage of Fox News, Vox and other selected outlets, as well as exclusive features such as the Washington Post's Election Now Dashboard, a weekly Axios briefing and the Races to Watch of & # 39; 39; Politico.

Apple has not launched the special section to censor the policy, said Cook at the Fortune CEO Initiative conference in San Francisco. Instead, he created the section because "the news was getting a little crazy," he said.

"For Apple News, we believe that the best stories should be selected by humans, not to be political at all, but to make sure that you do not choose content that is strictly for the purpose of enraging people, "said Cook.

He added that Apple plans to "bring this same type of view to different topics over time".

Since Apple launched the App Store in 2008, the company has organized what it offers. It does not allow pornography, incendiary content or other elements that go against its values. Although this position has sometimes been criticized, Cook said Monday that "it's our shop and he's saying something about us, what's in there." "

Cook, who joined Apple in 1998 to lead operations, was the hand-picked successor to Steve Jobs. It has definitely taken over the leading role in 2011, and since then, Apple has become one of the most powerful companies in the world. During his tenure as CEO, Cook has been working to diversify Apple's operations beyond the iPhone, but about two-thirds of the company's business figure. comes again the popular smartphone.

Speak

Cook has also taken a strong position on social issues, coming out as gay in 2014 and defend diversity in his business. Under his leadership, Apple has placed itself at the forefront of social issues such as LGBT rights, racial equality and the need of the technology industry to improve the diversity of its workforce. Again, it was difficult Apple and its peers are posting significant increases as a percentage of the diversification of their employee base.

Cook has also pushed Apple's strong privacy and security policies, even fighting the US government with the company's efforts. And Cook encouraged Apple to make its operations greener. In April, the company declared all its operations now work with clean energy.

Cook Monday said Apple is talking about areas that relate to his values ​​- education, privacy, human rights, immigration and the environment. Last week, he criticized the US policy of separating children from their immigrant parents at the border.

When it comes to immigration in particular, Apple has more than 300 employees who are in the United States under DACA, a controversial Obama era immigration program that offers undocumented migrants who have come to the country as children a chance to work and study without fear of deportation. Apple also has "several thousand" employees who are in the United States on the H1B visa, the foreign worker program that was threatened by Trump's mandate.

"This gives us both a perspective to share on the importance of having different points of view when we run a global business with international clients, but it also gives us a bit of perspective on life".

He added that Apple has never given money to a political campaign and that she does not like getting involved in politics. He will, however, talk about the policy he believes is wrong.

"If you are in agreement [that companies have values]"If you do not … you are in the category" awful silence of good people. "It's something I never wanted to be part of."

Unplug

Cook also said that Apple had not put in place any new parental controls or ways to monitor the use of the iPhone because of shareholder pressure. His new Screen Time app, which will be rolled out to all users with iOS 12 this fall, tells you how much you use the device, what you actually do and even how often you take your iPhone. And a time-out feature will allow you to set limits on how much your kids use their devices.

The company has faced negative reactions from investors and device users to concerns about telephone dependence among children. But Cook said Monday that parental control is something that Apple has been working on since the beginning. And he wants to help us all to lower our phones more often.

"It has become clear to all of us that some of us are spending too much time on our devices," Cook said. "What we tried to do, is to think deeply, how could we help with that."

Cook, for one, discovered that he had too many notifications put in place. And he began to watch how often he picks up his phone.

"We've never wanted people to abuse our product," Cook said. "We want people to be empowered by them and to do things that they could not do otherwise, but if you spend all your time on your phone, you spend too much time.

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