Why does Sacha Baron Cohen say social media is incompatible with democracy?

Sacha Baron Cohen said the combination of Donald Trump and social media is more dangerous than either alone, because platforms spread what is outrageous or hateful while truthful, boring material struggles. He recalled a Facebook whistleblower telling him that 2016 election ads were priced by virality, which made Trump's ads cheaper than Hillary Clinton's. He said he once tried to warn tech leaders and found them uninterested in protecting democracy.

• Baron Cohen called tech billionaires' version of free speech a way to make money from conspiracies and lies.
• The ending of Ali G, Who Is I? aims to show ordinary people turned toward violence by a conspiracy theory spread online.
• Baron Cohen said the film's final scene was an eight-hour continuous shot costing $4 million, and he lost $3 million of his own money on the first attempt.

▸In their words

“I don't think democracy is compatible with social media.” Sacha Baron Cohen · at 49:40 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Pivot (2026-10-23). Read the whole episode summary →

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