Elton John urge fans to boycott social media over homophobic content

Press Trust of India  |  London 

Music legend has called upon his fans to boycott the social media, saying the tech companies have failed to check the homophobic content and hate speech on their platforms.

In an interview with BBC, the 71-year-out music legend accused companies of failure to "try to stem the flow of hate on the internet," and said that a boycott could make them "sit up" and deal with the menace.

"I don't know why they allow it. It's supposed to be free speech, but the things that are on are so disgusting that there has to be action taken by the people who own these companies... People say, 'well, what about my freedom of speech?' Well, sod your freedom of speech," John said.

John believes the tech giants like and Instagram had a "public role and responsibility" and said they should take action against the propagators of hate speech.

"Companies like and Instagram cannot pretend they are purely private enterprises. I believe they have a public role and responsibility," John said.

"But if we found ways to automatically respond to hatred with fact, good could be all the way around the world before falsehood even got its boots on," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, June 12 2018. 14:30 IST