WEBVTT 00:00:01.950 --> 00:00:04.500 Thank you very much. Thanks to everyone who stood up. 00:00:04.510 --> 00:00:06.990 Unnecessary but very flattering. 00:00:07.380 --> 00:00:09.760 Thank you, Jonathan, for your very kind words. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.320 Thank you, the Anti-Defamation League, 00:00:12.330 --> 00:00:14.510 for this recognition 00:00:14.570 --> 00:00:18.230 and your work in fighting racism, hate and bigotry. 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:19.950 And to be clear, 00:00:20.040 --> 00:00:22.320 when I say racism, hate, and bigotry 00:00:22.860 --> 00:00:26.210 I'm not referring to the names of Stephen Miller's labradoodles. 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:27.880 [audience laughs] 00:00:30.490 --> 00:00:33.920 Now, I realize that some of you may be thinking: 00:00:34.110 --> 00:00:38.130 "What the hell is a comedian doing speaking at a conference like this?" 00:00:39.010 --> 00:00:40.290 I certainly am. 00:00:40.390 --> 00:00:41.390 [audience laughs] 00:00:41.440 --> 00:00:44.640 I've spent most of the past two decades in character. 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 00:00:49.750 --> 00:00:53.170 as my least popular character: Sacha Baron Cohen. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:54.280 [audience laughs] 00:00:54.380 --> 00:00:55.950 [audience cheers] 00:00:57.470 --> 00:01:01.320 And, I have to confess, it is terrifying. 00:01:02.710 --> 00:01:06.830 I realize that my presence here may also be unexpected for another reason: 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:10.580 At times, some critics have said my comedy 00:01:10.730 --> 00:01:14.090 risks reinforcing old stereotypes. 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:19.210 The truth is, I've been passionate about challenging bigotry and intolerance 00:01:19.270 --> 00:01:20.420 throughout my life. 00:01:20.770 --> 00:01:22.140 As a teenager in England, 00:01:22.160 --> 00:01:24.950 I marched against the Fascist National Front 00:01:25.010 --> 00:01:26.890 and to abolish apartheid. 00:01:27.220 --> 00:01:29.750 As an undergraduate, I traveled around America 00:01:29.770 --> 00:01:32.770 and wrote my thesis about the Civil Rights Movement 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:35.410 with the help of the archives of the ADL; 00:01:35.670 --> 00:01:38.610 and as a comedian, I've tried to use my characters 00:01:38.650 --> 00:01:41.690 to get people to let down their guard 00:01:41.710 --> 00:01:43.940 and reveal what they actually believe, 00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:45.950 including their own prejudice. 00:01:46.430 --> 00:01:48.550 Now, I'm not gonna claim everything I've done 00:01:48.570 --> 00:01:50.210 has been for a higher purpose. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:52.670 Yes, some of my comedy – 00:01:52.700 --> 00:01:54.390 okay, probably half my comedy – 00:01:54.410 --> 00:01:56.120 has been absolutely juvenile. 00:01:56.220 --> 00:01:57.350 [audience laughs] 00:01:57.470 --> 00:01:59.710 And the other half completely puerile. 00:01:59.750 --> 00:02:01.520 But... [audience laughs] 00:02:01.590 --> 00:02:05.100 I admit there was nothing particularly enlightening about me 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:07.060 as Borat from Kazakhstan, 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:09.180 the first 'fake news' journalist, 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:10.390 [audience laughs] 00:02:10.460 --> 00:02:12.800 running through a conference of mortgage brokers 00:02:12.860 --> 00:02:14.400 while I was completely naked. 00:02:14.420 --> 00:02:15.490 [audience laughs] 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:19.720 But when Borat was able to get an entire bar in Arizona to sing 00:02:19.820 --> 00:02:21.720 ♪ throw the Jew down the well ♪ 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:22.750 [audience laughs] 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:26.930 it did reveal people's indifference to anti-semitism. 00:02:27.490 --> 00:02:31.300 When, as Bruno, the gay fashion reporter from Austria, 00:02:31.600 --> 00:02:34.630 I started kissing a man in a cage fight in Arkansas, 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:36.540 nearly starting a riot, 00:02:36.630 --> 00:02:40.440 it showed the violent potential of homophobia. 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:44.020 And, when disguised as an ultra-woke developer, 00:02:44.040 --> 00:02:48.010 I proposed building a mosque in one rural community, 00:02:48.110 --> 00:02:50.880 prompting a resident to proudly admit: 00:02:50.940 --> 00:02:53.650 "I am racist against Muslims," 00:02:54.030 --> 00:02:57.360 it showed the growing acceptance of islamophobia. 00:02:58.090 --> 00:03:01.630 That's why I really appreciate the opportunity to be here with you. 00:03:01.850 --> 00:03:04.160 Today, around the world, 00:03:04.260 --> 00:03:07.170 demagogues appeal to our worst instincts. 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:10.870 Conspiracy theories, once confined to the fringe, 00:03:11.100 --> 00:03:12.400 are going mainstream. 00:03:12.700 --> 00:03:17.860 It's as if the age of reason, the era of evidential argument 00:03:17.880 --> 00:03:19.100 is ending, 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:22.010 and now knowledge is increasingly delegitimized 00:03:22.350 --> 00:03:25.350 and scientific consensus is dismissed. 00:03:25.650 --> 00:03:29.450 Democracy, which depends on shared truths, 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:30.620 is in retreat, 00:03:30.660 --> 00:03:34.430 and autocracy, which depends on shared lies, 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:35.690 is on the march. 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:37.840 Hate crimes are surging, 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:41.400 as are murderous attacks on religious and ethnic minorities. 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:45.200 Now, what do all these dangerous trends have in common? 00:03:45.570 --> 00:03:47.180 I'm just a comedian and an actor, 00:03:47.210 --> 00:03:51.040 I'm not a scholar, but one thing is pretty clear to me: 00:03:52.110 --> 00:03:55.410 All this hate and violence is being facilitated 00:03:55.510 --> 00:03:57.550 by a handful of Internet companies 00:03:57.920 --> 00:04:01.920 that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.310 [audience applauds] 00:04:06.690 --> 00:04:09.290 The greatest propaganda machine in history. 00:04:09.310 --> 00:04:11.700 Let's think about it. Facebook, YouTube... 00:04:11.720 --> 00:04:13.500 ...Google, Twitter and others – 00:04:13.770 --> 00:04:15.670 they reach billions of people. 00:04:15.700 --> 00:04:18.440 The algorithms these platforms depend on 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:20.470 deliberately amplify 00:04:20.530 --> 00:04:23.360 the type of content that keeps users engaged; 00:04:23.750 --> 00:04:27.080 stories that appeal to our baser instincts, 00:04:27.270 --> 00:04:29.380 and that trigger outrage and fear. 00:04:29.630 --> 00:04:34.690 It's why YouTube recommended videos by the conspiracist Alex Jones 00:04:34.830 --> 00:04:36.760 billions of times. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.360 It's why fake news outperforms real news, 00:04:40.630 --> 00:04:44.430 because studies show that lies spread faster than truth. 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:48.230 And it's no surprise that the greatest propaganda machine in history 00:04:48.630 --> 00:04:52.070 has spread the oldest conspiracy theory in history: 00:04:52.270 --> 00:04:55.310 the lie that Jews are somehow dangerous. 00:04:56.010 --> 00:04:57.640 As one headline put it: 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:01.450 "Just think what Goebbles could have done with Facebook." 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:02.537 [audience groans] 00:05:02.640 --> 00:05:03.640 On the internet, 00:05:03.960 --> 00:05:07.170 everything can appear equally legitimate. 00:05:07.470 --> 00:05:09.750 Breitbart resembles the BBC, 00:05:10.090 --> 00:05:12.730 the fictitious protocols of the Elders of Zion 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:15.630 look as valid as an ADL report, 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:18.730 and the rantings of a lunatic seem as credible 00:05:18.750 --> 00:05:21.370 as the findings of a Nobel Prize winner. 00:05:21.850 --> 00:05:25.770 We have lost, it seems, a shared sense of basic facts 00:05:26.070 --> 00:05:28.570 upon which democracy depends. 00:05:29.020 --> 00:05:31.810 When I, as the wanna-be-gansta Ali G, 00:05:31.830 --> 00:05:34.650 asked the astronaut Buzz Aldrin: 00:05:34.950 --> 00:05:37.420 "what woz it like to walk on de sun??" 00:05:37.650 --> 00:05:39.560 [audience laughs] 00:05:41.650 --> 00:05:46.960 the joke worked because, we, the audience, shared the same facts. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:49.730 If you believe the moon landing was a hoax 00:05:49.960 --> 00:05:52.230 the joke doesn't work. 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:55.730 When Borat got that bar in Arizona to agree that, 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:01.070 ♪ Jews control everybody's money and they never give it back ♪ 00:06:02.150 --> 00:06:05.410 the joke worked because the audience shared the fact 00:06:05.440 --> 00:06:08.480 that the depiction of Jews as miserly 00:06:08.810 --> 00:06:12.580 is a conspiracy theory originating in the Middle Ages. 00:06:12.780 --> 00:06:16.890 But when, thanks to social media, conspiracies take hold, 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:19.790 it is easier for hate groups to recruit, 00:06:19.990 --> 00:06:22.630 easier for foreign intelligence agencies 00:06:22.690 --> 00:06:25.100 to interfere in our elections, 00:06:25.400 --> 00:06:32.370 and easier for a country like Myanmar to commit genocide against the Rohingya. 00:06:33.170 --> 00:06:35.710 [audience applauds] 00:06:38.780 --> 00:06:40.980 Now, it's actually quite shocking 00:06:41.010 --> 00:06:44.650 how easy it is to turn conspiracy thinking into violence. 00:06:44.700 --> 00:06:46.790 In my last show, "Who is America?" 00:06:47.350 --> 00:06:50.650 I found an educated, normal guy who'd held down a good job, 00:06:50.690 --> 00:06:53.100 but who, on social media, 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:55.790 repeated many of the conspiracy theories 00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:58.230 that President Trump, using Twitter, 00:06:58.580 --> 00:07:04.540 has spread more than 1700 times to his 67 million Twitter followers. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:10.440 The president even tweeted that he was considering designating Antifa 00:07:10.580 --> 00:07:13.480 who are anti-fascists who march against the far-right, 00:07:13.580 --> 00:07:15.980 as a terror organization. 00:07:16.380 --> 00:07:21.120 So, disguised as an Israeli anti-terrorism expert, 00:07:21.390 --> 00:07:23.150 Colonel Erran Morad, 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:24.170 [audience laughs] 00:07:25.008 --> 00:07:26.725 [in a foreign accent] "Yalla. Let go" 00:07:26.757 --> 00:07:27.987 [audience laughs] 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:30.260 Disguised as him, I told my interviewee 00:07:30.280 --> 00:07:32.500 that at the Women's March in San Francisco 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:38.440 Antifa were plotting to put hormones into babies' diapers in order to 00:07:38.470 --> 00:07:40.630 [in a foreign accent] "make them transgender," 00:07:40.660 --> 00:07:41.660 [audience laughs] 00:07:41.910 --> 00:07:43.480 And this man believed it. 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:48.510 I instructed him to plant small devices on three innocent people at the march, 00:07:48.530 --> 00:07:50.610 and explained that, when he pushed a button, 00:07:50.650 --> 00:07:53.350 he'd trigger an explosion that would kill them all. 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:56.940 They weren't real explosives, of course, but he thought they were. 00:07:57.090 --> 00:08:00.120 I wanted to see, would he actually do it? 00:08:00.460 --> 00:08:02.360 The answer was yes. 00:08:02.730 --> 00:08:06.900 He pushed the button and thought he had actually killed three human beings. 00:08:07.370 --> 00:08:10.000 Voltaire was right when he said, 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:13.810 "Those who can make you believe absurdities 00:08:14.140 --> 00:08:16.510 "can make you commit atrocities." 00:08:17.580 --> 00:08:24.080 And social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people. 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:25.680 In their defense, 00:08:25.710 --> 00:08:29.850 these social media companies have taken some steps to reduce hate 00:08:29.890 --> 00:08:32.380 and conspiracies on their platforms, 00:08:32.420 --> 00:08:34.930 but these steps have been mainly superficial. 00:08:35.370 --> 00:08:37.130 And I'm talking about this today 00:08:37.150 --> 00:08:40.230 because I believe that our pluralistic democracies 00:08:40.630 --> 00:08:43.860 are on a precipice and that the next 12 months, 00:08:43.890 --> 00:08:47.310 and the role of social media could be determinant. 00:08:48.050 --> 00:08:49.910 British voters will go to the polls 00:08:49.940 --> 00:08:51.940 while online conspiracists 00:08:52.180 --> 00:08:56.250 promote the despicable theory of the "great replacement," 00:08:56.310 --> 00:08:59.400 that white Christians are being deliberately replaced 00:08:59.420 --> 00:09:01.420 by Muslim immigrants. 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:03.760 Americans will vote for president 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:11.130 while trolls and bots perpetuate the disgusting lie of a Hispanic invasion. 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:15.530 And after years of YouTube videos calling climate change a hoax, 00:09:16.070 --> 00:09:19.400 the United States is on track, a year from now, 00:09:19.800 --> 00:09:23.070 to formally withdraw from the Paris Accords. 00:09:23.470 --> 00:09:27.150 A sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories 00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:31.250 that threaten our democracy, and to some degree, our planet. 00:09:31.850 --> 00:09:35.550 This can't possibly be what the creators of the internet had in mind. 00:09:35.850 --> 00:09:40.660 I believe that it's time for a fundamental rethink of social media 00:09:40.890 --> 00:09:44.460 and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies. 00:09:44.800 --> 00:09:47.670 (Audience cheers; applauds) 00:09:52.570 --> 00:09:57.640 Last month, however, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook 00:09:58.040 --> 00:09:59.780 delivered a major speech 00:10:00.110 --> 00:10:04.330 that, not surprisingly, warned against new laws and regulations 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:05.820 on companies like his. 00:10:06.180 --> 00:10:09.880 Well, some of these arguments are simply... 00:10:10.152 --> 00:10:12.190 ...pardon my French, bullshit. 00:10:12.670 --> 00:10:13.890 Let's count the ways. 00:10:14.060 --> 00:10:17.990 First, Zuckerberg tried to portray this whole issue as 00:10:18.460 --> 00:10:21.070 "choices around free expression." 00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:22.670 That is ludicrous. 00:10:23.050 --> 00:10:26.570 This is not about limiting anyone's free speech. 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:28.360 This is about giving people – 00:10:28.390 --> 00:10:32.010 including some of the most reprehensible people on earth – 00:10:32.280 --> 00:10:35.910 the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet. 00:10:36.350 --> 00:10:39.950 Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach. 00:10:40.460 --> 00:10:42.370 Sadly, there will always be racists, 00:10:42.410 --> 00:10:45.400 misogynists, anti-semites and child abusers. 00:10:45.460 --> 00:10:47.460 but I think we can all agree 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:50.430 that we shouldn't be giving bigots and pedophiles 00:10:50.700 --> 00:10:55.030 a free platform to amplify their views and target their victims. 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:57.800 [audience applauds] 00:11:00.770 --> 00:11:03.960 Second, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that new limits 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:05.880 on what's posted on social media 00:11:05.910 --> 00:11:09.250 would be "to pull back on free expression." 00:11:09.610 --> 00:11:11.150 This is utter nonsense. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:14.530 The First Amendment says that, and I quote: 00:11:14.740 --> 00:11:18.000 "Congress shall make no law... abridging freedom of speech." 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:22.530 However, this does not apply to private businesses like Facebook. 00:11:22.930 --> 00:11:26.630 We're not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:28.330 across society, 00:11:28.530 --> 00:11:32.300 we just want them to be responsible on their platforms. 00:11:32.670 --> 00:11:35.670 If neo-nazi comes goose-stepping into a restaurant 00:11:36.040 --> 00:11:39.410 and starts threatening other customers and says he wants to kill Jews, 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.450 would the owner of the restaurant, a private business, 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:46.760 be required to serve him an elegant 8-course meal? 00:11:47.190 --> 00:11:48.550 Of course not! 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:51.820 The restaurant owner has every legal right – 00:11:52.060 --> 00:11:54.690 and indeed, I would argue, a moral obligation – 00:11:54.890 --> 00:11:56.500 to kick that Nazi out. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:58.560 And so do these internet companies. 00:11:58.610 --> 00:12:00.610 [audience applauds] 00:12:04.550 --> 00:12:06.060 Now third. 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:09.920 Mark Zuckerberg seemed to equate regulation of companies like his 00:12:10.210 --> 00:12:14.250 to the actions of "the most repressive societies." 00:12:14.710 --> 00:12:15.810 Incredible. 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:20.620 This from one of the six people who decide what information 00:12:20.820 --> 00:12:22.990 so much of the world sees: 00:12:23.550 --> 00:12:25.590 Zuckerberg at Facebook, 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:27.590 Sundar Pichai at Google, 00:12:27.760 --> 00:12:31.730 at its parent company Alphabet, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, 00:12:32.060 --> 00:12:35.770 Brin’s ex-sister-in-law, Susan Wojcicki at YouTube, 00:12:35.800 --> 00:12:37.770 and Jack Dorsey at Twitter. 00:12:38.300 --> 00:12:40.040 The Silicon Six. 00:12:40.640 --> 00:12:43.170 All billionaires, all Americans, 00:12:43.420 --> 00:12:46.480 who care more about boosting their share price 00:12:46.850 --> 00:12:48.750 than about protecting democracy. 00:12:49.222 --> 00:12:51.140 [audience applauds] 00:12:53.630 --> 00:12:57.278 This is ideological imperialism. 00:12:57.780 --> 00:13:00.860 Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley 00:13:01.160 --> 00:13:04.200 imposing their vision on the rest of the world, 00:13:04.460 --> 00:13:06.660 unaccountable to any government 00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:09.970 and acting like they're above the reach of law. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.300 It's like we're living in the Roman Empire, 00:13:12.330 --> 00:13:14.340 and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. 00:13:14.880 --> 00:13:16.940 At least that would explain his haircut. 00:13:17.220 --> 00:13:18.629 [audience laughs] 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:21.380 Now here's an idea. 00:13:22.380 --> 00:13:26.180 Instead of letting the Sillicon Six decide the fate of the world, 00:13:26.680 --> 00:13:29.290 let our elected representatives, 00:13:29.650 --> 00:13:33.860 voted for by the people of every democracy in the world, 00:13:34.030 --> 00:13:35.660 have at least some say. 00:13:36.590 --> 00:13:39.230 Fourth, Zuckerberg speaks of welcoming 00:13:39.330 --> 00:13:41.630 "a diversity of ideas," 00:13:42.070 --> 00:13:44.190 and last year he gave us an example. 00:13:44.250 --> 00:13:47.910 He said that he found posts denying the Holocaust 00:13:47.970 --> 00:13:49.410 "deeply offensive," 00:13:49.610 --> 00:13:52.080 but he didn't think Facebook should take them down 00:13:52.340 --> 00:13:56.580 "because I think there are things that different people get wrong." 00:13:56.980 --> 00:14:02.120 At this very moment, there are still Holocaust deniers on Facebook, 00:14:02.220 --> 00:14:04.100 and Google still takes you 00:14:04.130 --> 00:14:07.830 to the most repulsive Holocaust denial sites 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:09.390 with a simple click. 00:14:09.650 --> 00:14:14.530 One of the heads of Google, in fact, told me that these sites just show 00:14:14.870 --> 00:14:16.670 "both sides" of the issue. 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:17.670 [audience groans] 00:14:17.740 --> 00:14:19.000 This is madness. 00:14:19.100 --> 00:14:21.402 To quote Edward R. Murrow: 00:14:21.460 --> 00:14:24.640 One "cannot accept that there are, on every story, 00:14:24.750 --> 00:14:28.280 "two equal and logical sides to an argument." 00:14:28.310 --> 00:14:31.606 We have, unfortunately, millions of pieces of evidence 00:14:31.646 --> 00:14:32.661 for the Holocaust. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:35.720 it is an historical fact. 00:14:35.850 --> 00:14:38.760 And denying it is not some random opinion. 00:14:38.920 --> 00:14:43.460 Those who deny the Holocaust aim to encourage another one. 00:14:44.230 --> 00:14:46.500 [audience applauds] 00:14:50.670 --> 00:14:55.370 Still, Zuckerberg says that "people should decide what is credible, 00:14:55.420 --> 00:14:57.040 "not tech companies." 00:14:57.250 --> 00:14:59.760 But at a time when two-thirds of Millenials 00:14:59.790 --> 00:15:02.560 say they haven't even heard of Auschwitz, 00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:05.390 how are they supposed to know what's credible? 00:15:05.813 --> 00:15:10.660 How are they supposed to know that the lie is a lie? 00:15:10.920 --> 00:15:13.560 There is such a thing as objective truth. 00:15:13.820 --> 00:15:16.290 Facts do exist. 00:15:16.570 --> 00:15:19.920 And if these internet companies really want to make a difference 00:15:20.180 --> 00:15:23.940 they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:28.340 work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, 00:15:28.670 --> 00:15:34.810 insist on facts, and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms. 00:15:35.210 --> 00:15:37.380 [audience applauds] 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.810 Now, fifth, when discussing the difficulty of removing content, 00:15:44.860 --> 00:15:45.960 Zuckerberg... 00:15:46.610 --> 00:15:50.130 Mark Zuckerberg asked, "where do you draw the line?" 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:54.570 Yes, drawing the line can be difficult, 00:15:55.040 --> 00:15:56.800 but here's what he's really saying: 00:15:56.920 --> 00:15:59.700 removing more of these lies and conspiracies 00:15:59.870 --> 00:16:01.640 is just too expensive. 00:16:01.980 --> 00:16:05.040 These are the richest companies in the world, 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:07.450 and they have the best engineers in the world. 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:10.680 They could fix these problems if they wanted to. 00:16:10.850 --> 00:16:14.090 Twitter could deploy an algorithm 00:16:14.260 --> 00:16:17.020 to remove more white supremacist hate speech, 00:16:17.220 --> 00:16:19.270 but they reportedly haven't 00:16:19.650 --> 00:16:23.260 because it would eject some very prominent politicians 00:16:23.330 --> 00:16:24.430 from their platform. 00:16:24.450 --> 00:16:25.600 [audience groans] 00:16:25.650 --> 00:16:27.870 Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. 00:16:28.400 --> 00:16:30.330 [audience applauds, cheers] 00:16:35.540 --> 00:16:37.060 The truth is 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:39.940 these companies won't fundamentally change 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:42.250 because their entire business model 00:16:42.610 --> 00:16:45.720 relies on generating more engagement, 00:16:45.880 --> 00:16:48.320 and nothing generates more engagement 00:16:48.330 --> 00:16:50.760 than lies, fear and outrage. 00:16:51.040 --> 00:16:53.250 So it's time to finally call these companies 00:16:53.270 --> 00:16:57.260 what they really are: the largest publishers in history. 00:16:57.470 --> 00:16:58.960 So here's an idea for them: 00:16:59.230 --> 00:17:02.130 abide by basic standards and practices 00:17:02.470 --> 00:17:06.700 just like newspapers, magazines and TV news do everyday. 00:17:07.340 --> 00:17:10.840 We have standards and practices in television and the movies. 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:14.080 There are certain things we cannot say or do. 00:17:14.420 --> 00:17:16.160 In England, I was told that Ali G 00:17:16.450 --> 00:17:19.420 couldn't curse when he appeared before 9 p.m. 00:17:20.080 --> 00:17:23.920 Here in the US, the Motion Picture Association of America 00:17:24.290 --> 00:17:26.320 regulates and rates what we see. 00:17:26.560 --> 00:17:31.060 I've had scenes in my movies cut or reduced to abide by those standards. 00:17:31.500 --> 00:17:36.440 If there are standards and practices for what cinemas and TV channels can show 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:39.710 then, surely companies that publish material 00:17:39.732 --> 00:17:40.940 to billions of people 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:43.710 should have to abide basic standards and practices too. 00:17:43.810 --> 00:17:45.270 [audience applauds] 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:53.150 Take the issue of political ads, 00:17:54.050 --> 00:17:55.850 on which Facebook have been resolute. 00:17:56.090 --> 00:17:58.920 Fortunately, Twitter finally banned them, 00:17:59.033 --> 00:18:02.290 and Google, today I read, is making changes too. 00:18:02.649 --> 00:18:04.460 But, if you pay them, 00:18:04.770 --> 00:18:08.730 Facebook will run any political ad you want, 00:18:09.070 --> 00:18:10.300 even if it's a lie. 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:15.170 And they'll even help you micro-target those adds to their users 00:18:15.220 --> 00:18:16.910 for maximum effect. 00:18:17.380 --> 00:18:19.526 Under this twisted logic, 00:18:19.770 --> 00:18:22.820 if Facebook were around in the 1930s 00:18:22.850 --> 00:18:26.080 it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads 00:18:26.090 --> 00:18:28.750 on his solution to the "Jewish problem." 00:18:29.460 --> 00:18:31.950 So here's a good standard and practice: 00:18:32.462 --> 00:18:38.650 Facebook, start fact-checking political ads before you run them, 00:18:39.120 --> 00:18:42.510 stop micro-targeted lies immediately, 00:18:42.870 --> 00:18:44.420 and when the ads are false, 00:18:44.500 --> 00:18:46.910 give back the money and don't publish them. 00:18:47.710 --> 00:18:49.740 [audience applauds] 00:18:55.380 --> 00:18:57.120 Here's another good practice: 00:18:57.261 --> 00:18:59.191 slow down. 00:18:59.679 --> 00:19:03.550 Every single post doesn't need to be published immediately. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.560 Oscar Wilde once said: "We live in an age 00:19:06.660 --> 00:19:11.030 "when unnecessary things are our only necessity." 00:19:11.495 --> 00:19:12.495 But... 00:19:13.260 --> 00:19:15.690 But, let me ask you, is having every thought 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:18.570 or video posted instantly online, 00:19:18.710 --> 00:19:21.310 even if it's racist or criminal or murderous, 00:19:21.600 --> 00:19:23.510 really a necessity? 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:24.960 Of course not. 00:19:25.432 --> 00:19:28.680 The shooter who massacred Muslims in New Zealand 00:19:28.910 --> 00:19:31.880 live streamed his atrocity on Facebook 00:19:31.950 --> 00:19:34.110 where it then spread across the internet 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:36.950 and was viewed likely millions of times. 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:41.630 It was a snuff film, brought to you by social media. 00:19:42.260 --> 00:19:44.300 Why can't we have more of a delay 00:19:44.560 --> 00:19:47.200 so that this trauma-inducing filth 00:19:47.430 --> 00:19:51.670 can be caught and stopped before it's posted in the first place? 00:19:51.840 --> 00:19:54.870 [audience applauds] 00:19:56.788 --> 00:20:00.980 Finally, Zuckerberg said that social media companies should 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:04.150 "live up to their responsibilities," 00:20:04.380 --> 00:20:08.920 but he's totally silent about what should happen when they don't. 00:20:09.410 --> 00:20:11.660 By now, it's pretty clear 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:15.190 they can't be trusted to regulate themselves. 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:18.930 As with Industrial Revolution, it's time for regulation 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:24.370 and legislation to curb the greed of these high-tech robber barons. 00:20:24.670 --> 00:20:26.670 [audience applauds] 00:20:29.670 --> 00:20:32.060 In in every other industry, 00:20:32.100 --> 00:20:36.040 a company can be held liable when their product is defective. 00:20:36.310 --> 00:20:39.720 When engines explode or seat belts malfunction, 00:20:39.980 --> 00:20:43.950 car company's recall tens of thousands of vehicles 00:20:44.290 --> 00:20:46.320 at a cost of billions of dollars. 00:20:46.680 --> 00:20:50.090 It only seems fair to say to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter: 00:20:50.530 --> 00:20:52.860 Your product is defective, 00:20:53.080 --> 00:20:55.130 you are obliged to fix it, 00:20:55.370 --> 00:20:57.340 no matter how much it costs 00:20:57.408 --> 00:21:00.990 and no matter how many moderators you need to employ. 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:05.380 [audience applauds, cheers] 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:10.810 In every under-- sorry 00:21:10.830 --> 00:21:15.190 In every other industry you can be sued for the harm you cause. 00:21:15.450 --> 00:21:19.790 Publishers can be sued for libel, people can be sued for defamation. 00:21:20.070 --> 00:21:22.630 I've been sued many times! 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:23.620 [audience laughs] 00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:25.860 I'm being sued right now 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:30.870 by someone whose name I won't mention because he might sue me again! 00:21:30.930 --> 00:21:31.940 [audience laughs] 00:21:31.970 --> 00:21:36.800 But social media companies are largely protected from liability 00:21:36.810 --> 00:21:38.610 for the content their users post – 00:21:38.810 --> 00:21:40.980 no matter how indecent it is – 00:21:41.260 --> 00:21:43.510 by Section 230 of, get ready for it, 00:21:43.820 --> 00:21:46.680 the Communications Decency Act. 00:21:47.260 --> 00:21:48.390 It's absurd! 00:21:48.652 --> 00:21:53.690 Fortunately, internet companies can now be held responsible for pedophiles 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.670 who use their site to target children. 00:21:56.830 --> 00:21:57.730 So I say, 00:21:57.880 --> 00:21:59.500 let's also hold these companies 00:21:59.760 --> 00:22:02.730 responsible for those who use their sites 00:22:02.910 --> 00:22:05.970 to advocate for the mass murder of children 00:22:06.170 --> 00:22:08.140 because of their race or religion. 00:22:08.810 --> 00:22:10.481 [audience applauds] 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.350 And maybe fines are not enough. 00:22:17.770 --> 00:22:23.920 Maybe it's time to tell Mark Zuckerberg and the CEOs of these companies 00:22:24.411 --> 00:22:27.510 you already allowed one foreign power 00:22:27.520 --> 00:22:29.390 to interfere in our elections. 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:34.000 You already facilitated one genocide in Myanmar. 00:22:34.130 --> 00:22:36.630 Do it again and you go to jail. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:38.460 [audience applauds] 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:47.750 In the end, it all comes down to what kind of world we want. 00:22:48.590 --> 00:22:52.650 In his speech, Zuckerberg said that one of his main goals 00:22:52.950 --> 00:22:58.160 is to "uphold as wide a definition of freedom of expression as possible." 00:22:58.570 --> 00:22:59.660 It sounds good. 00:23:00.230 --> 00:23:04.330 Yet our freedoms are not only an end in themselves. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:06.760 They're also the means to another end – 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:08.930 as you say here in the US: 00:23:09.110 --> 00:23:13.240 the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 00:23:13.470 --> 00:23:18.610 But today these rights are threatened by hate, conspiracies and lies. 00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:24.480 So allow me to leave you with a suggestion for a different aim for society: 00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:26.840 The ultimate aim of society 00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:30.790 should be to make sure that people are not targeted, 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:33.820 not harassed and not murdered 00:23:33.894 --> 00:23:36.800 because of who they are, where they come from, 00:23:36.860 --> 00:23:39.200 who they love or how they pray. 00:23:39.860 --> 00:23:42.470 [audience applauds, cheers] 00:23:54.830 --> 00:23:57.600 If we make that our aim – 00:23:57.690 --> 00:24:00.180 if we prioritize truth over lies, 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:02.390 tolerance over prejudice, 00:24:02.650 --> 00:24:04.760 empathy over indifference, 00:24:04.900 --> 00:24:07.830 and experts over ignoramuses – 00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:08.990 [audience laughs] 00:24:09.130 --> 00:24:11.330 then maybe, just maybe, 00:24:11.590 --> 00:24:15.570 we can stop the greatest propaganda machine in history. 00:24:16.069 --> 00:24:17.928 We can save democracy, 00:24:17.988 --> 00:24:22.470 we can still have a place for free speech and free expression, 00:24:22.730 --> 00:24:26.540 and most importantly, my jokes will still work. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:28.080 Thank you very much. 00:24:28.280 --> 00:24:31.180 [cheers and applause]