In a message on social media, the Borat actor called out the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube. Sacha Baron Cohen is voicing his thoughts.
On Twitter on Wednesday, the 50-year-old actor criticised some of the most popular social media sites and their owners for “profiting off Putin’s propaganda” in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He criticised the websites for failing to prohibit the state TV network of Russia.
Cohen started by tweeting a black-and-white snapshot of the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube, who are Mark Zuckerberg, Parag Agrawal, Sundar Pichai, and Susan Wojcicki, respectively.
Cohen said, alluding to the Russian media network, “Putin just attacked a children’s hospital, yet @Facebook, @instagram @Twitter & @YouTube are still showing Russia’s state-run RT.”
Why are you making money off of Putin’s disinformation? The Borat actor went on. “Take Russia RT off your platforms IMMEDIATELY!”
The social media influencers’ respective businesses and representatives did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Following a massive invasion by Russian forces on February 24 — the first significant land conflict in Europe in decades — Russia has continued its assault on Ukraine. The fighting’s specifics are constantly changing, but hundreds of people, including children, have already been reported killed or injured. According to the UN, more than a million Ukrainians have also left.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, ordered the invasion, which has prompted widespread condemnation and increasingly harsh economic penalties against Russia. Numerous nations have also committed to providing financial or military support to the resistance as NATO forces gather in the area bordering Ukraine.
While asking his nation to take action, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for peace talks that have so far failed. Putin, 69, maintains that Ukraine and Russia have a long history together and that his actions are best for the security of his nation.
44-year-old Zelenskyy has pledged not to budge. In the early stages of the battle, he spoke to the European Union and declared, “Life will triumph over death. Nobody can break us. We’re strong. We’re Ukrainians. And the light shall triumph over the gloom.
In a June 2021 interview with Variety, Cohen discussed social media’s influence and potential dangers.
“While democratic societies rely on a system of common facts, authoritarian regimes rely on shared lies. People’s views on that set of accepted truths vary, according to Cohen. “Conspiracies and lies are more likely to be shared on social media, whereas the truth is rather tedious and boring. As a result, neither waiting for nor sharing the truth is something that people desire to do.
Cohen, who, according to the source, assisted in the formation of the Stop Hate for Profit coalition, also criticised the claims made by social media companies that putting restrictions on particular topics would violate free speech.
He said that people “tend to keep on saying the word ‘freedom of speech’ without really comprehending what it means, what it is, or that the United States has an extraordinary concept of freedom of speech that developed because of its exceptional history.” Because of the impact of Nazism, there are restrictions on free expression in Europe. There is a type of ideological imperialism when the opinions of a small group of Silicon Valley billionaires are forced upon the rest of the world.
Similar to this, The Trial of the Chicago 7 star advocated that social media companies should employ digital fact-checkers and monitors to keep an eye on their platforms. He declared, “These are trillion-dollar businesses.” “Some of the wealthiest people in the world operate them,”
