In an interview with the BBC, Google CEO Sundar Pichai made his first comments on the post-election fake news controversy, and admitted the company has made some mistakes.
“We will definitely work to fix it.”
“It is important to remember that we get billions of queries every day,” Pichai told the news organization. “There have been a couple of incidences where it has been pointed out and we didn’t get it right. And so it is a learning moment for us and we will definitely work to fix it.”
When the BBC asked Pichai about the potential effects of fake news on the election, he said “there is a lot of discussion” about social media’s role, but added that he was “not fully sure” about the effects.
“Look, it is important to remember this was a very close election and so, just for me, so looking at it scientifically, one in a hundred voters voting one way or the other swings the election either way,” Pichai said, according to the BBC. “So, when you talk about such narrow margins, obviously there are many, many contributing factors and so I think there is enormous debate because of that — I am not fully sure what caused this.”