Actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen blasted tech companies and said that they enable extremism and hate to proliferate worldwide.
Baron Cohen, who is Jewish, made the remarks Thursday speaking at Never is Now, a summit on anti-Semitism hosted by the Anti-Defamation League. Baron Cohen was awarded the group’s international leadership award, according to the Guardian.
The 48-year-old actor pointed out that hate crimes are increasing and placed much of the onus on tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube.
“Hate crimes are surging, as are murderous attacks on religious and ethnic minorities,” he said. “All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history.”
Baron Cohen accused the companies of using algorithms to amplify hateful content to users. He said it’s “why fake news outperforms real news, because studies show that lies spread faster than truth.”
“If you pay them, Facebook will run any ‘political’ ad you want, even if it’s a lie,” the actor said. “And they’ll even help you micro-target those lies to their users for maximum effect.”
“Under this twisted logic, if Facebook were around in the 1930s, it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his ‘solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem,’” he added.
The Borat star said that the companies should be held responsible for the content on their platforms.
“Internet companies can now be held responsible for pedophiles who use their sites to target children,” he said. “I say, let’s also hold these companies responsible for those who use their sites to advocate for the mass murder of children because of their race or religion. And maybe fines are not enough.”
A representative at Facebook said Baron Cohen’s argument “misrepresented Facebook’s policies” and noted that the company already prohibits some forms of speech.
“Hate speech is actually banned on our platform,” the representative said. “We ban people who advocate for violence, and we remove anyone who praises or supports it. Nobody — including politicians — can advocate or advertise hate, violence, or mass murder on Facebook.”
