(Photo Source: newsrust.com)

Actor accuses Facebook founder of spreading propaganda through social media

Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator and star of the “Borat” movies, slammed Mark Zuckerberg for allowing Holocaust deniers to use Facebook to spread propaganda. In a fiery speech before the Anti-Defamation League, a group that fights discrimination against Jews, Cohen took Zuckerberg to task for allowing hate speech to flourish on the platform.

“All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history,” Cohen said during the speech. He also called the owner of a handful of tech companies “imperialists” who are imposing their values on the rest of the world.

“The Silicon Six—all billionaires, all Americans—who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy,” Cohen said. “This is ideological imperialism–six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law. [Zuckerberg] said that he found posts denying the Holocaust ‘deeply offensive,’ but he didn’t think Facebook should take them down “because I think there are things that different people get wrong…At this very moment, there are still Holocaust deniers on Facebook, and Google still takes you to the most repulsive Holocaust denial sites with a simple click.”

Facebook has stepped up its effort to combat fake news and hate speech on the platform, even adding corrections to news stories that have been debunked. However, many groups, including the ADL, have called on Facebook and other major social media platforms to do more to combat hate speech.