1
00:00:01,950 --> 00:00:04,500
Thank you very much.
Thanks to everyone who stood up.

2
00:00:04,510 --> 00:00:06,990
Unnecessary but very flattering.

3
00:00:07,380 --> 00:00:09,760
Thank you, Jonathan,
for your very kind words.

4
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,320
Thank you, the Anti-Defamation League,

5
00:00:12,330 --> 00:00:14,510
for this recognition

6
00:00:14,570 --> 00:00:18,230
and your work in fighting racism,
hate and bigotry.

7
00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:19,950
And to be clear,

8
00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,320
when I say racism, hate, and bigotry

9
00:00:22,860 --> 00:00:26,210
I'm not referring to the names
of Stephen Miller's labradoodles.

10
00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:27,880
(Audience Laughs)

11
00:00:30,490 --> 00:00:33,920
Now, I realize that
some of you may be thinking:

12
00:00:34,110 --> 00:00:38,130
"What the hell is a comedian doing
speaking at a conference like this?"

13
00:00:39,010 --> 00:00:40,290
I certainly am.

14
00:00:40,390 --> 00:00:41,390
(Audience Laughs)

15
00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,640
I've spent most of the past two decades
in character.

16
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,680
In fact, this is the first ever time
that I've stood up and given a speech

17
00:00:49,750 --> 00:00:53,170
as my least popular character:
Sacha Baron Cohen.

18
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:54,280
(Audience Laughs)

19
00:00:54,380 --> 00:00:55,950
(Audience Cheers)

20
00:00:57,470 --> 00:01:01,320
And, I have to confess, it is terrifying.

21
00:01:02,710 --> 00:01:06,830
I realize that my presence here
may also be unexpected for another reason:

22
00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,580
At times, some critics
have said my comedy

23
00:01:10,730 --> 00:01:14,090
risks reinforcing old stereotypes.

24
00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:19,210
The truth is, I've been passionate about
challenging bigotry and intolerance

25
00:01:19,270 --> 00:01:20,420
throughout my life.

26
00:01:20,770 --> 00:01:22,140
As a teenager in England,

27
00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:24,950
I marched against
the Fascist National Front

28
00:01:25,010 --> 00:01:26,890
and to abolish apartheid.

29
00:01:27,220 --> 00:01:29,750
As an undergraduate,
I traveled around America

30
00:01:29,770 --> 00:01:32,770
and wrote my thesis
about the Civil Rights Movement

31
00:01:32,900 --> 00:01:35,410
with the help of the archives of the ADL;

32
00:01:35,670 --> 00:01:38,610
and as a comedian,
I've tried to use my characters

33
00:01:38,650 --> 00:01:41,690
to get people to let down their guard

34
00:01:41,710 --> 00:01:43,940
and reveal what they actually believe,

35
00:01:44,250 --> 00:01:45,950
including their own prejudice.

36
00:01:46,430 --> 00:01:48,550
Now, I'm not gonna claim
everything I've done

37
00:01:48,570 --> 00:01:50,210
has been for a higher purpose.

38
00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:52,670
Yes, some of my comedy –

39
00:01:52,700 --> 00:01:54,390
okay, probably half my comedy –

40
00:01:54,410 --> 00:01:56,120
has been absolutely juvenile.

41
00:01:56,220 --> 00:01:57,350
(Audience Laughs)

42
00:01:57,470 --> 00:01:59,710
And the other half completely puerile.

43
00:01:59,750 --> 00:02:01,520
But...
(Audience Laughs)

44
00:02:01,590 --> 00:02:05,100
I admit there was nothing
particularly enlightening about me

45
00:02:05,140 --> 00:02:07,060
as Borat from Kazakhstan,

46
00:02:07,150 --> 00:02:09,180
the first 'fake news' journalist,

47
00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:10,390
(Audience Laughs)

48
00:02:10,460 --> 00:02:12,800
running through a conference
of mortgage brokers

49
00:02:12,860 --> 00:02:14,400
while I was completely naked.

50
00:02:14,420 --> 00:02:15,490
(Audience Laughs)

51
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,720
But when Borat was able to get
an entire bar in Arizona to sing

52
00:02:19,820 --> 00:02:21,720
♪ throw the Jew down the well ♪

53
00:02:21,740 --> 00:02:22,750
(Audience Laughs)

54
00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,930
it did reveal people's indifference
to anti-semitism.

55
00:02:27,490 --> 00:02:31,300
When, as Bruno, the gay
fashion reporter from Austria,

56
00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,630
I started kissing a man
in a cage fight in Arkansas,

57
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:36,540
nearly starting a riot,

58
00:02:36,630 --> 00:02:40,440
it showed the violent potential
of homophobia.

59
00:02:40,740 --> 00:02:44,020
And, when disguised
as an ultra-woke developer,

60
00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:48,010
I proposed building a mosque
in one rural community,

61
00:02:48,110 --> 00:02:50,880
prompting a resident to proudly admit:

62
00:02:50,940 --> 00:02:53,650
"I am racist against Muslims,"

63
00:02:54,030 --> 00:02:57,360
it showed the growing acceptance
of islamophobia.

64
00:02:58,090 --> 00:03:01,630
That's why I really appreciate
the opportunity to be here with you.

65
00:03:01,850 --> 00:03:04,160
Today, around the world,

66
00:03:04,260 --> 00:03:07,170
demagogues appeal
to our worst instincts.

67
00:03:07,430 --> 00:03:10,870
Conspiracy theories,
once confined to the fringe,

68
00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:12,400
are going mainstream.

69
00:03:12,700 --> 00:03:17,860
It's as if the age of reason,
the era of evidential argument

70
00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:19,100
is ending,

71
00:03:19,110 --> 00:03:22,010
and now knowledge
is increasingly delegitimized

72
00:03:22,350 --> 00:03:25,350
and scientific consensus is dismissed.

73
00:03:25,650 --> 00:03:29,450
Democracy,
which depends on shared truths,

74
00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:30,620
is in retreat,

75
00:03:30,660 --> 00:03:34,430
and autocracy,
which depends on shared lies,

76
00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:35,690
is on the march.

77
00:03:36,060 --> 00:03:37,840
Hate crimes are surging,

78
00:03:38,020 --> 00:03:41,400
as are murderous attacks
on religious and ethnic minorities.

79
00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,200
Now, what do all these
dangerous trends have in common?

80
00:03:45,570 --> 00:03:47,180
I'm just a comedian and an actor,

81
00:03:47,210 --> 00:03:51,040
I'm not a scholar,
but one thing is pretty clear to me:

82
00:03:52,110 --> 00:03:55,410
All this hate and violence
is being facilitated

83
00:03:55,510 --> 00:03:57,550
by a handful of Internet companies

84
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,920
that amount to the greatest
propaganda machine in history.

85
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,310
(Audience Applauds)

86
00:04:06,690 --> 00:04:09,290
The greatest
propaganda machine in history.

87
00:04:09,310 --> 00:04:11,700
Let's think about it. 
Facebook, YouTube...

88
00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:13,500
...Google, Twitter and others –

89
00:04:13,770 --> 00:04:15,670
they reach billions of people.

90
00:04:15,700 --> 00:04:18,440
The algorithms
these platforms depend on

91
00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:20,470
deliberately amplify

92
00:04:20,530 --> 00:04:23,360
the type of content
that keeps users engaged;

93
00:04:23,750 --> 00:04:27,080
stories that appeal
to our baser instincts,

94
00:04:27,270 --> 00:04:29,380
and that trigger outrage and fear.

95
00:04:29,630 --> 00:04:34,690
It's why YouTube recommended videos
by the conspiracist Alex Jones

96
00:04:34,830 --> 00:04:36,760
billions of times.

97
00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,360
It's why fake news outperforms real news,

98
00:04:40,630 --> 00:04:44,430
because studies show that
lies spread faster than truth.

99
00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,230
And it's no surprise that the greatest
propaganda machine in history

100
00:04:48,630 --> 00:04:52,070
has spread the oldest
conspiracy theory in history:

101
00:04:52,270 --> 00:04:55,310
the lie that Jews are somehow dangerous.

102
00:04:56,010 --> 00:04:57,640
As one headline put it:

103
00:04:57,980 --> 00:05:01,450
"Just think what Goebbles
could have done with Facebook."

104
00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:02,537
(Audience gasps)

105
00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:03,640
On the internet,

106
00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,170
everything can appear equally legitimate.

107
00:05:07,470 --> 00:05:09,750
Breitbart resembles the BBC,

108
00:05:10,090 --> 00:05:12,730
the fictitious protocols
of the Elders of Zion

109
00:05:12,980 --> 00:05:15,630
look as valid as an ADL report,

110
00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,730
and the rantings of a lunatic
seem as credible

111
00:05:18,750 --> 00:05:21,370
as the findings of a Nobel Prize winner.

112
00:05:21,850 --> 00:05:25,770
We have lost, it seems,
a shared sense of basic facts

113
00:05:26,070 --> 00:05:28,570
upon which democracy depends.

114
00:05:29,020 --> 00:05:31,810
When I, as the wanna-be-gansta Ali G,

115
00:05:31,830 --> 00:05:34,650
asked the astronaut Buzz Aldrin:

116
00:05:34,950 --> 00:05:37,420
"what woz it like to walk on de sun??"

117
00:05:37,650 --> 00:05:39,560
(Audience Laughs)

118
00:05:41,650 --> 00:05:46,960
the joke worked because,
we, the audience, shared the same facts.

119
00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,730
If you believe the moon landing was a hoax

120
00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,230
the joke doesn't work.

121
00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,730
When Borat got that bar
in Arizona to agree that,

122
00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:01,070
♪ Jews control everybody's money
and they never give it back ♪

123
00:06:02,150 --> 00:06:05,410
the joke worked because
the audience shared the fact

124
00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,480
that the depiction of Jews as miserly

125
00:06:08,810 --> 00:06:12,580
is a conspiracy theory
originating in the Middle Ages.

126
00:06:12,780 --> 00:06:16,890
But when, thanks to social media, 
conspiracies take hold,

127
00:06:17,060 --> 00:06:19,790
it is easier for hate groups to recruit,

128
00:06:19,990 --> 00:06:22,630
easier for foreign intelligence agencies

129
00:06:22,690 --> 00:06:25,100
to interfere in our elections,

130
00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:32,370
and easier for a country like Myanmar
to commit genocide against the Rohingya.

131
00:06:33,170 --> 00:06:35,710
(Audience Applauds)

132
00:06:38,780 --> 00:06:40,980
Now, it's actually quite shocking

133
00:06:41,010 --> 00:06:44,650
how easy it is to turn
conspiracy thinking into violence.

134
00:06:44,700 --> 00:06:46,790
In my last show, "Who is America?"

135
00:06:47,350 --> 00:06:50,650
I found an educated, normal guy
who'd held down a good job,

136
00:06:50,690 --> 00:06:53,100
but who, on social media,

137
00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:55,790
repeated many of the conspiracy theories

138
00:06:56,060 --> 00:06:58,230
that President Trump, using Twitter,

139
00:06:58,580 --> 00:07:04,540
has spread more than 1700 times
to his 67 million Twitter followers.

140
00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:10,440
The president even tweeted that
he was considering designating Antifa

141
00:07:10,580 --> 00:07:13,480
who are anti-fascists
who march against the far-right,

142
00:07:13,580 --> 00:07:15,980
as a terror organization.

143
00:07:16,380 --> 00:07:21,120
So, disguised as an Israeli
anti-terrorism expert,

144
00:07:21,390 --> 00:07:23,150
Colonel Erran Morad,

145
00:07:23,170 --> 00:07:24,170
(Audience Laughs)

146
00:07:25,008 --> 00:07:26,705
(in foreign accent)
"Yalla. Let go"

147
00:07:26,757 --> 00:07:27,987
(Audience Laughs)

148
00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,260
Disguised as him, 
I told my interviewee

149
00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,500
that at the Women's March in San Francisco

150
00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:38,440
Antifa were plotting to put hormones
into babies' diapers in order to

151
00:07:38,470 --> 00:07:40,630
(in foreign accent)
"make them transgender,"

152
00:07:40,660 --> 00:07:41,660
(Audience laughs)

153
00:07:41,910 --> 00:07:43,480
And this man believed it.

154
00:07:43,740 --> 00:07:48,510
I instructed him to plant small devices
on three innocent people at the march,

155
00:07:48,530 --> 00:07:50,610
and explained that,
when he pushed a button,

156
00:07:50,650 --> 00:07:53,350
he'd trigger an explosion
that would kill them all.

157
00:07:53,790 --> 00:07:56,940
They weren't real explosives, 
of course, but he thought they were.

158
00:07:57,090 --> 00:08:00,120
I wanted to see, would he actually do it?

159
00:08:00,460 --> 00:08:02,360
The answer was yes.

160
00:08:02,730 --> 00:08:06,900
He pushed the button and thought
he had actually killed three human beings.

161
00:08:07,370 --> 00:08:10,000
Voltaire was right when he said,

162
00:08:10,100 --> 00:08:13,810
"Those who can make you
believe absurdities

163
00:08:14,140 --> 00:08:16,510
"can make you commit atrocities."

164
00:08:17,580 --> 00:08:24,080
And social media lets authoritarians
push absurdities to billions of people.

165
00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:25,680
In their defense,

166
00:08:25,710 --> 00:08:29,850
these social media companies
have taken some steps to reduce hate

167
00:08:29,890 --> 00:08:32,380
and conspiracies on their platforms,

168
00:08:32,420 --> 00:08:34,930
but these steps
have been mainly superficial.

169
00:08:35,370 --> 00:08:37,130
And I'm talking about this today

170
00:08:37,150 --> 00:08:40,230
because I believe that
our pluralistic democracies

171
00:08:40,630 --> 00:08:43,860
are on a precipice
and that the next 12 months,

172
00:08:43,890 --> 00:08:47,310
and the role of social media
could be determinant.

173
00:08:48,050 --> 00:08:49,910
British voters will go to the polls

174
00:08:49,940 --> 00:08:51,940
while online conspiracists

175
00:08:52,180 --> 00:08:56,250
promote the despicable theory
of the "great replacement,"

176
00:08:56,310 --> 00:08:59,400
that white Christians
are being deliberately replaced

177
00:08:59,420 --> 00:09:01,420
by Muslim immigrants.

178
00:09:01,750 --> 00:09:03,760
Americans will vote for president

179
00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:11,130
while trolls and bots perpetuate
the disgusting lie of a Hispanic invasion.

180
00:09:11,620 --> 00:09:15,530
And after years of YouTube videos
calling climate change a hoax,

181
00:09:16,070 --> 00:09:19,400
the United States is on track,
a year from now,

182
00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,070
to formally withdraw
from the Paris Accords.

183
00:09:23,470 --> 00:09:27,150
A sewer of bigotry
and vile conspiracy theories

184
00:09:27,350 --> 00:09:31,250
that threaten our democracy,
and to some degree, our planet.

185
00:09:31,850 --> 00:09:35,550
This can't possibly be what
the creators of the internet had in mind.

186
00:09:35,850 --> 00:09:40,660
I believe that it's time for
a fundamental rethink of social media

187
00:09:40,890 --> 00:09:44,460
and how it spreads
hate, conspiracies and lies.

188
00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:47,670
(Audience cheers; applauds)

189
00:09:52,570 --> 00:09:57,640
Last month, however,
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook

190
00:09:58,040 --> 00:09:59,780
delivered a major speech

191
00:10:00,110 --> 00:10:04,330
that, not surprisingly, 
warned against new laws and regulations

192
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:05,820
on companies like his.

193
00:10:06,180 --> 00:10:09,880
Well, some of these arguments
are simply...

194
00:10:10,152 --> 00:10:12,190
...pardon my French, bullshit.

195
00:10:12,670 --> 00:10:13,890
Let's count the ways.

196
00:10:14,060 --> 00:10:17,990
First, Zuckerberg
tried to portray this whole issue as

197
00:10:18,460 --> 00:10:21,070
"choices around free expression."

198
00:10:21,100 --> 00:10:22,670
That is ludicrous.

199
00:10:23,050 --> 00:10:26,570
This is not about
limiting anyone's free speech.

200
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,360
This is about giving people –

201
00:10:28,390 --> 00:10:32,010
including some of the most
reprehensible people on earth –

202
00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,910
the biggest platform in history
to reach a third of the planet.

203
00:10:36,350 --> 00:10:39,950
Freedom of speech
is not freedom of reach.

204
00:10:40,460 --> 00:10:42,370
Sadly, there will always be racists,

205
00:10:42,410 --> 00:10:45,400
misogynists,
anti-semites and child abusers.

206
00:10:45,460 --> 00:10:47,460
but I think we can all agree

207
00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:50,430
that we shouldn't be
giving bigots and pedophiles

208
00:10:50,700 --> 00:10:55,030
a free platform to amplify their views
and target their victims.

209
00:10:55,070 --> 00:10:57,800
(Audience applauds)

210
00:11:00,770 --> 00:11:03,960
Second, Mark Zuckerberg
claimed that new limits

211
00:11:03,980 --> 00:11:05,880
on what's posted on social media

212
00:11:05,910 --> 00:11:09,250
would be 
"to pull back on free expression."

213
00:11:09,610 --> 00:11:11,150
This is utter nonsense.

214
00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,530
The First Amendment
says that, and I quote:

215
00:11:14,740 --> 00:11:18,000
"Congress shall make no law...
abridging freedom of speech."

216
00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,530
However, this does not apply
to private businesses like Facebook.

217
00:11:22,930 --> 00:11:26,630
We're not asking these companies
to determine the boundaries of free speech

218
00:11:26,860 --> 00:11:28,330
across society,

219
00:11:28,530 --> 00:11:32,300
we just want them
to be responsible on their platforms.

220
00:11:32,670 --> 00:11:35,670
If neo-nazi comes
goose-stepping into a restaurant

221
00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,410
and starts threatening other customers
and says he wants to kill Jews,

222
00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,450
would the owner of the restaurant,
a private business,

223
00:11:42,580 --> 00:11:46,760
be required to serve him
an elegant 8-course meal?

224
00:11:47,190 --> 00:11:48,550
Of course not!

225
00:11:48,690 --> 00:11:51,820
The restaurant owner
has every legal right –

226
00:11:52,060 --> 00:11:54,690
and indeed, I would argue,
a moral obligation –

227
00:11:54,890 --> 00:11:56,500
to kick that Nazi out.

228
00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:58,560
And so do these internet companies.

229
00:11:58,610 --> 00:12:00,610
(Audience applauds)

230
00:12:04,550 --> 00:12:06,060
Now third.

231
00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,920
Mark Zuckerberg seemed to equate
regulation of companies like his

232
00:12:10,210 --> 00:12:14,250
to the actions of 
"the most repressive societies."

233
00:12:14,710 --> 00:12:15,810
Incredible.

234
00:12:16,100 --> 00:12:20,620
This from one of the six people
who decide what information

235
00:12:20,820 --> 00:12:22,990
so much of the world sees:

236
00:12:23,550 --> 00:12:25,590
Zuckerberg at Facebook,

237
00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:27,590
Sundar Pichai at Google,

238
00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:31,730
at its parent company Alphabet,
Larry Page and Sergey Brin,

239
00:12:32,060 --> 00:12:35,770
Brin’s ex-sister-in-law,
Susan Wojcicki at YouTube,

240
00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:37,770
and Jack Dorsey at Twitter.

241
00:12:38,300 --> 00:12:40,040
The Silicon Six.

242
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,170
All billionaires, all Americans,

243
00:12:43,420 --> 00:12:46,480
who care more
about boosting their share price

244
00:12:46,850 --> 00:12:48,750
than about protecting democracy.

245
00:12:49,222 --> 00:12:51,140
(Audience applauds)

246
00:12:53,630 --> 00:12:57,278
This is ideological imperialism.

247
00:12:57,780 --> 00:13:00,860
Six unelected individuals
in Silicon Valley

248
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,200
imposing their vision
on the rest of the world,

249
00:13:04,460 --> 00:13:06,660
unaccountable to any government

250
00:13:06,740 --> 00:13:09,970
and acting like
they're above the reach of law.

251
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,300
It's like we're living
in the Roman Empire,

252
00:13:12,330 --> 00:13:14,340
and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar.

253
00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:16,940
At least that would explain his haircut.

254
00:13:17,220 --> 00:13:18,629
(Audience laughs)

255
00:13:19,460 --> 00:13:21,380
Now here's an idea.

256
00:13:22,380 --> 00:13:26,180
Instead of letting the Sillicon Six
decide the fate of the world,

257
00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:29,290
let our elected representatives,

258
00:13:29,650 --> 00:13:33,860
voted for by the people
of every democracy in the world,

259
00:13:34,030 --> 00:13:35,660
have at least some say.

260
00:13:36,590 --> 00:13:39,230
Fourth, Zuckerberg
speaks of welcoming

261
00:13:39,330 --> 00:13:41,630
"a diversity of ideas,"

262
00:13:42,070 --> 00:13:44,190
and last year he gave us an example.

263
00:13:44,250 --> 00:13:47,910
He said that he found
posts denying the Holocaust

264
00:13:47,970 --> 00:13:49,410
"deeply offensive,"

265
00:13:49,610 --> 00:13:52,080
but he didn't think
Facebook should take them down

266
00:13:52,340 --> 00:13:56,580
"because I think there are things
that different people get wrong."

267
00:13:56,980 --> 00:14:02,120
At this very moment, there are still
Holocaust deniers on Facebook,

268
00:14:02,220 --> 00:14:04,100
and Google still takes you

269
00:14:04,130 --> 00:14:07,830
to the most repulsive
Holocaust denial sites

270
00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:09,390
with a simple click.

271
00:14:09,650 --> 00:14:14,530
One of the heads of Google, in fact,
told me that these sites just show

272
00:14:14,870 --> 00:14:16,670
"both sides" of the issue.

273
00:14:16,700 --> 00:14:17,670
(Audience gasps)

274
00:14:17,740 --> 00:14:19,000
This is madness.

275
00:14:19,100 --> 00:14:21,402
To quote Edward R. Murrow:

276
00:14:21,460 --> 00:14:24,640
One "cannot accept
that there are, on every story,

277
00:14:24,750 --> 00:14:28,280
"two equal and logical sides
to an argument."

278
00:14:28,310 --> 00:14:31,606
We have, unfortunately,
millions of pieces of evidence

279
00:14:31,646 --> 00:14:32,661
for the Holocaust.

280
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,720
it is an historical fact.

281
00:14:35,850 --> 00:14:38,760
And denying it is not
some random opinion.

282
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:43,460
Those who deny the Holocaust
aim to encourage another one.

283
00:14:44,230 --> 00:14:46,500
(Audience applauds)

284
00:14:50,670 --> 00:14:55,370
Still, Zuckerberg says that
"people should decide what is credible,

285
00:14:55,420 --> 00:14:57,040
"not tech companies."

286
00:14:57,250 --> 00:14:59,760
But at a time
when two-thirds of Millenials

287
00:14:59,790 --> 00:15:02,560
say they haven't even heard of Auschwitz,

288
00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,390
how are they supposed to know
what's credible?

289
00:15:05,813 --> 00:15:10,660
How are they supposed to know
that the lie is a lie?

290
00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,560
There is such a thing as objective truth.

291
00:15:13,820 --> 00:15:16,290
Facts do exist.

292
00:15:16,570 --> 00:15:19,920
And if these internet companies
really want to make a difference

293
00:15:20,180 --> 00:15:23,940
they should hire enough monitors
to actually monitor,

294
00:15:24,230 --> 00:15:28,340
work closely with groups like the ADL
and the NAACP,

295
00:15:28,670 --> 00:15:34,810
insist on facts and purge these lies
and conspiracies from their platforms.

296
00:15:35,210 --> 00:15:37,380
(Audience applauds)

297
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,860
Now, fifth, when discussing
the difficulty of removing content,

298
00:15:44,860 --> 00:15:45,960
Zuckerberg...

299
00:15:46,610 --> 00:15:50,130
Mark Zuckerberg asked, 
"where do you draw the line?"

300
00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,570
Yes, drawing the line can be difficult,

301
00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:56,800
but here's what he's really saying:

302
00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,700
removing more
of these lies and conspiracies

303
00:15:59,870 --> 00:16:01,640
is just too expensive.

304
00:16:02,060 --> 00:16:05,040
These are
the richest companies in the world,

305
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:07,450
and they have
the best engineers in the world.

306
00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,680
They could fix these problems
if they wanted to.

307
00:16:10,850 --> 00:16:14,090
Twitter could deploy an algorithm

308
00:16:14,260 --> 00:16:17,020
to remove more
white supremacist hate speech,

309
00:16:17,220 --> 00:16:19,270
but they reportedly haven't

310
00:16:19,650 --> 00:16:23,260
because it would eject
some very prominent politicians

311
00:16:23,330 --> 00:16:24,430
from their platform.

312
00:16:24,450 --> 00:16:25,360
(Audience sighs)

313
00:16:25,650 --> 00:16:27,870
Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

314
00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,330
(Audience applauds; cheers)

315
00:16:35,540 --> 00:16:37,060
The truth is...

316
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:39,940
these companies
won't fundamentally change

317
00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,250
because their entire business model

318
00:16:42,610 --> 00:16:45,720
relies on generating more engagement,

319
00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,320
and nothing
generates more engagement

320
00:16:48,330 --> 00:16:50,760
than lies, fear and outrage.

321
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,250
So it's time
to finally call these companies

322
00:16:53,270 --> 00:16:57,260
what they really are:
the largest publishers in history.

323
00:16:57,470 --> 00:16:58,960
So here's an idea for them:

324
00:16:59,230 --> 00:17:02,130
abide by basic standards and practices

325
00:17:02,470 --> 00:17:06,700
just like newspapers,
magazines and TV news do everyday.

326
00:17:07,340 --> 00:17:10,840
We have standards and practices
in television and the movies.

327
00:17:11,140 --> 00:17:14,080
There are certain things
we cannot say or do.

328
00:17:14,420 --> 00:17:16,160
In England, I was told that Ali G

329
00:17:16,450 --> 00:17:19,420
couldn't curse
when he appeared before 9 p.m.

330
00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:23,920
Here in the US, the Motion Picture
Association of America

331
00:17:24,290 --> 00:17:26,320
regulates and rates what we see.

332
00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:31,060
I've had scenes in my movies cut
or reduced to abide by those standards.

333
00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:36,440
If there are standards and practices
for what TV channels can show

334
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,600
then, surely,
companies that publish material

335
00:17:39,700 --> 00:17:40,940
to billions of people

336
00:17:40,970 --> 00:17:43,810
should have to abide
basic standards and practices too.

337
00:17:43,810 --> 00:17:44,810
(Audience applauds)

338
00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,150
Take the issue of political ads,

339
00:17:54,050 --> 00:17:55,850
on which Facebook have been resolute.

340
00:17:56,090 --> 00:17:58,920
Fortunately, Twitter finally banned them,

341
00:17:59,220 --> 00:18:02,290
and Google, today I read, 
is making changes too.

342
00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:04,460
But, if you pay them...

343
00:18:04,770 --> 00:18:08,730
Facebook will run
any political ad you want,

344
00:18:09,070 --> 00:18:10,300
even if it's a lie.

345
00:18:10,730 --> 00:18:15,170
And they'll even help you
microtarget those adds to their users

346
00:18:15,410 --> 00:18:16,910
for maximum effect.

347
00:18:17,380 --> 00:18:22,680
Under this twisted logic,
if Facebook were around in the 1930s

348
00:18:22,910 --> 00:18:26,080
it would have allowed Hitler
to post 30-second ads

349
00:18:26,090 --> 00:18:28,750
on his solution to the "Jewish problem."

350
00:18:29,460 --> 00:18:31,950
So here's a good standard and practice:

351
00:18:33,540 --> 00:18:38,200
Facebook, start fact-checking
political ads before you run them,

352
00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:42,510
stop micro-targeted lies immediately,

353
00:18:42,870 --> 00:18:44,420
and when the ads are false,

354
00:18:44,500 --> 00:18:46,910
give back the money
and don't publish them.

355
00:18:47,710 --> 00:18:49,740
(Audience applauds)

356
00:18:55,380 --> 00:18:59,450
Here's another good practice:
Slow down.

357
00:18:59,820 --> 00:19:03,550
Every single post does not need
to be published immediately.

358
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,560
Oscar Wilde once said: 
"We live in an age

359
00:19:06,660 --> 00:19:11,030
"when unnecessary things
are our only necessity."

360
00:19:13,380 --> 00:19:15,690
But, let me ask you,
is having every thought

361
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,570
or video posted instantly online,

362
00:19:18,710 --> 00:19:21,310
even if it's racist
or criminal or murderous,

363
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:23,510
really a necessity?

364
00:19:23,940 --> 00:19:24,690
Of course not.

365
00:19:25,910 --> 00:19:28,680
The shooter who
massacred Muslims in New Zealand

366
00:19:28,910 --> 00:19:31,880
live streamed his atrocity on Facebook

367
00:19:31,950 --> 00:19:34,110
where it then spread across the internet

368
00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,950
and was viewed likely millions of times.

369
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,630
It was a snuff film,
brought to you by social media.

370
00:19:42,260 --> 00:19:44,300
Why can't we have more of a delay

371
00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,200
so that this trauma-inducing filth

372
00:19:47,430 --> 00:19:51,670
can be caught and stopped
before it's posted in the first place?

373
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,870
(Audience applauds)

374
00:19:56,940 --> 00:20:00,980
Finally, Zuckerberg said that
social companies should

375
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,150
"live up to their responsibilities,"

376
00:20:04,380 --> 00:20:08,920
but he's totally silent about
what should happen when they don't.

377
00:20:09,410 --> 00:20:11,660
By now, it's pretty clear

378
00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,190
they can't be trusted
to regulate themselves.

379
00:20:15,660 --> 00:20:18,930
As with Industrial Revolution,
it's time for regulation

380
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:24,370
and legislation to curb the greed
of these high-tech robber barons.

381
00:20:24,670 --> 00:20:26,670
(Audience applauds)

382
00:20:29,670 --> 00:20:32,060
In in every other industry,

383
00:20:32,100 --> 00:20:36,040
a company can be held liable
when their product is defective.

384
00:20:36,310 --> 00:20:39,720
When engines explode
or seat belts malfunction,

385
00:20:39,980 --> 00:20:43,950
car company's recall
tens of thousands of vehicles

386
00:20:44,290 --> 00:20:46,320
at a cost of billions of dollars.

387
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,090
It only seems fair
to say to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter:

388
00:20:50,530 --> 00:20:52,860
Your product is defective,

389
00:20:53,470 --> 00:20:55,130
you are obliged to fix it,

390
00:20:55,370 --> 00:20:57,250
no matter how much it costs

391
00:20:57,250 --> 00:21:00,990
and no matter how many moderators
you need to employ.

392
00:21:01,940 --> 00:21:05,380
(Audience applauds; cheers)

393
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:10,810
In every under-- sorry

394
00:21:10,830 --> 00:21:15,190
In every other industry
you can be sued for the harm you cause.

395
00:21:15,450 --> 00:21:19,790
Publishers can be sued for libel,
people can be sued for defamation.

396
00:21:20,220 --> 00:21:22,630
I've been sued many times.

397
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:23,560
(Audience laughs)

398
00:21:23,700 --> 00:21:25,860
I've been sued right now

399
00:21:26,700 --> 00:21:30,930
by someone whose name I won't mention
because he might sue me again!

400
00:21:30,930 --> 00:21:31,940
(Audience laughs)

401
00:21:31,970 --> 00:21:36,800
But social media companies
are largely protected from liability

402
00:21:36,810 --> 00:21:38,610
for the content their users post –

403
00:21:38,810 --> 00:21:40,980
no matter how indecent it is –

404
00:21:41,260 --> 00:21:43,510
by section 230 of, get ready for it,

405
00:21:43,820 --> 00:21:46,680
the Communications Decency Act.

406
00:21:47,260 --> 00:21:48,390
It's absurd!

407
00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:53,690
Fortunately, internet companies can now
be held responsible for pedophiles

408
00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:56,670
who use their site to target children.

409
00:21:56,670 --> 00:21:56,830
So I say,
who use their site to target children.

410
00:21:56,830 --> 00:21:57,730
So I say,

411
00:21:57,880 --> 00:21:59,500
let's also hold these companies

412
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,730
responsible for those who use their sites

413
00:22:02,910 --> 00:22:05,970
to advocate for
the mass murder of children

414
00:22:06,170 --> 00:22:08,140
because of their race or religion.

415
00:22:08,810 --> 00:22:09,870
(Audience applauds)

416
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,350
And maybe fines are not enough.

417
00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:23,920
Maybe it's time to tell Mark Zuckerberg
and the CEOs of these companies

418
00:22:24,660 --> 00:22:27,510
you already allowed one foreign power

419
00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,390
to interfere in our elections.

420
00:22:29,890 --> 00:22:34,000
You already facilitated
one genocide in Myanamar.

421
00:22:34,130 --> 00:22:36,630
Do it again and you go to jail.

422
00:22:36,630 --> 00:22:37,630
(Audience applauds)

423
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,120
In the end, it all comes down to
what kind of world we want.

424
00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:47,850
In his speech, Zuckerberg said
that one of his main goals
In the end, it all comes down to
what kind of world we want.

425
00:22:47,850 --> 00:22:52,650
In his speech, Zuckerberg said
that one of his main goals

426
00:22:52,950 --> 00:22:58,160
is to "uphold as wide a definition
of freedom of expression as possible."

427
00:22:58,570 --> 00:22:59,660
It sounds good.

428
00:23:00,230 --> 00:23:04,330
Yet our freedoms

429
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,760
they're also the means to another end –

430
00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:08,930
as you say here in the US:

431
00:23:09,110 --> 00:23:13,240
the right to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.

432
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:18,610
But today these rights are threatened
by hate, conspiracies and lies.

433
00:23:19,110 --> 00:23:24,480
So allow me to leave you with a suggestion
for a different aim for society:

434
00:23:24,980 --> 00:23:26,840
The ultimate aim of society

435
00:23:27,140 --> 00:23:30,790
should be to make sure
that people are not targeted,

436
00:23:31,050 --> 00:23:33,820
not harassed and not murdered

437
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,800
because of who they are,
where they come from,

438
00:23:36,860 --> 00:23:39,200
who they love or how they pray.

439
00:23:39,860 --> 00:23:42,470
(Audience applauds; cheers)

440
00:23:54,830 --> 00:23:57,980
If we make that our aim –

441
00:23:57,980 --> 00:24:00,180
if we prioritize truth over lies,

442
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,390
tolerance over prejudice,

443
00:24:02,650 --> 00:24:04,760
empathy over indifference,

444
00:24:04,900 --> 00:24:07,830
and experts over ignoramus –

445
00:24:07,980 --> 00:24:08,990
(Audience laughs)

446
00:24:09,130 --> 00:24:11,330
then maybe, just maybe, we can stop

447
00:24:11,590 --> 00:24:15,570
we can stop the greatest
propaganda machine in history.

448
00:24:16,370 --> 00:24:19,690
We can save democracy,
we can still have a place

449
00:24:19,730 --> 00:24:22,470
for free speech and free expression,

450
00:24:22,730 --> 00:24:26,540
and most importantly,
my jokes will still work.

451
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:28,080
Thank you very much.

452
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,180
[Applause]