Sacha Baron Cohen calls out Larry Page and Sergey Brin: 'Stop Google and YouTube from spreading white supremacy'

Actor has taken Silicon Valley to task

Sacha Baron Cohen has called out Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, urging them to keep “white supremacy and lies” from spreading.

The actor, who previously called internet companies “the greatest propaganda machine in history”, was reacting to Page and Brin stepping down from their roles at Google’s parent company Alphabet.

“Larry and Sergey, first you drop your ‘Don’t Be Evil’ mantra, now you ‘drop out’?” Cohen asked, referring to Google’s unofficial mantra, which used to feature prominently in its code of conduct but was almost entirely removed from it in 2018.

Cohen continued: ”You still control 51% of voting shares, so stop @Google and @YouTube from spreading white supremacy & conspiracies.

“So long as you profit from hate, you are the #SiliconSix.”

The “Silicon Six” refers to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Page and Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey – six Silicon Valley personalities whom Baron Cohen has previously spoken out against, accusing them of caring “more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy”.

In a speech last month, Cohen railed against social media companies and their treatment of political information.

“Think about it. Facebook, YouTube and Google, Twitter and others – they reach billions of people. The algorithms these platforms depend on deliberately amplify the type of content that keeps users engaged – stories that appeal to our baser instincts and that trigger outrage and fear,” he said.

It was announced earlier this week that Page and Brin had stepped down from their respective roles as CEO and president of Alphabet.

Pichai, Google’s current CEO, will also become the parent company’s CEO.

The Independent has contacted Google, Alphabet, Facebook and YouTube for comment.

A Twitter spokesperson told The Independent: ”Our rules are clear: There is no place on Twitter for hateful conduct, terrorist organisations or violent extremist groups. Because of these rules, we’ve permanently suspended the accounts of 186 groups, half of which advocate violence against civilians alongside some form of extremist white supremacist ideology.”