Sacha Baron Cohen rips into Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for spreading lies and hate


Hitler would have gotten away with posting anti-Semitic advertisements on Facebook had the social network existed in the 1930s, according to Cohen. The 48-year-old 'Ali G' star singled out the US tech giant during a searing broadside against social media companies amplifying hatred and violence as part of 'the greatest propaganda machine in history'. — AFP

LOS ANGELES: Calling social media "the greatest propaganda machine in history", and the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube "high-tech robber barons", comedian Sacha Baron Cohen used a speech given to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) this week to call for much more stringent regulation of Internet companies.

"By now, it's pretty clear they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves," Cohen said, adding that it may not be enough to just fine social media companies if they continue to provide a forum to bigotry and hate. Instead, he suggested, CEOs should be held personally liable if their products are used to interfere in elections, or enable genocide. "Do it again, and you'll go to jail," he said.

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