Recently, Sacha Baron Cohen expressed his moral reservations against social media. He also terms them as the modern propagators of shared lies.
Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is very pleased following the day after various social media platforms decided to impose a ban on former US President, Donald Trump.
The inhibition free actor impersonated the President in his latest film Borat sequel. Soon, he took to Twitter to express his gratitude and opinions by thanking thousands of employees working for big names such as Twitter or Facebook who took the plunge towards a world that would not spread lies, hat, and conspiracies among the public.
Recently, Sacha Baron Cohen sat for an interview with Variety where he shared that the concept of social media is very obscure and he has his share of valid reservations against it. He called social platforms a center of propaganda, be it social or political, and are the epicenters of conspiracies and a place where the momentum for shared lies begin. The actor has been leading a campaigner against social media which started back in 2019 when he meticulously launched a tirade against various social media companies such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and others. Calling the campaign the Anti-Defamation League’s Never Is Now summit, he aimed at highlighting these companies’ careless approach towards censorship of harmful and hate-instigating content. Since that time, he has been extremely vocal regarding his viewpoint.
He also shared light about his views saying that he knew about the perils of social media since 2015 and was on the lookout for a public face, a celebrity to take up matters into his or her hands. He said that over the years, he has approached many celebrities who are aware of their status and popularity. He discussed with them the ongoing issue and what dangers it poses for society. He requested them to be the spokesperson for the cause, but sadly, all of them refused.
He also pointed out the hypocrisy of various social media platforms that have hesitated to put a stop to the spread of fake news citing the old parameter of permissibility called ‘freedom of speech’. However, he said that there are various ways to limit the circulation of negative content on social media by putting forward the example of how similar rules were imposed by Europe post World War II.
Baron-Cohen shared his ideas on how a viable solution can be imposed. He said that social platforms need to hire people who will fact-check content and information which will then be filtered based on its subject before posting it publicly. The companies are already huge corporations running their business in trillions of dollars and they can easily employ a large parade of people worldwide and invest their profits to make a healthy online space for everyone.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest release, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
