Actor Sacha Baron Cohen slams social media platforms for not blocking Russian State TV
Mar 10, 2022
Washington [US], March 11 : Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has spoken out his mind and called out some of the world's most-used social media platforms and their leaders on social media.
Cohen took to his Twitter handle on Wednesday and started by tagging the heads of Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube, who are Mark Zuckerberg, Parag Agrawal, Sundar Pichai and Susan Wojcicki, respectively.
The 'Borat' actor shared a black and white photo of the CEOs and slammed them for "profiting off Putin's propaganda" amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Cohen also called out the sites for not blocking Russia's state TV network.
Referring to the Russian media network, he wrote, "Putin just bombed a children's hospital, but @Facebook, @instagram @Twitter and @YouTube are still showing Russia's state-run RT. "Why are you profiting off Putin's propaganda?! Remove Russia RT from your platforms NOW!"
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues after their forces launched a large-scale war on February 24, the first major land conflict in Europe in decades. Hundreds of civilians have already been reported dead or wounded, including children. More than a million Ukrainians have also fled, the United Nations says.
In June 2021, while speaking with Variety Cohen had opened up about social media and the power it has, as well as the threat it can pose.
He said, "Authoritarian regimes rely on shared lies, democracies rely on a system of shared facts. People have their own opinions about that system of shared facts. Social media is predisposed to spread lies and conspiracy theories, while the truth is quite boring and dull. So people don't want to wait for the truth and they don't want to share the truth."