Selena Gomez doubles down on condemnation of tech leaders for allowing ‘hate groups’ to thrive

Selena Gomez has doubled down on her criticisms of tech leaders for allowing “ hate groups ” and “ disinformation ” to thrive on social media.

The 28-year-old singer released a fiery social media statement last week after supporters of President Donald Trump violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC to protest his electoral defeat to President-elect Joe Biden .

And in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, the star revealed she feels compelled to speak out after witnessing a wave of divisive posts online.

She said: ‘I think I started by contacting people immediately, directly. I wasn’t afraid to call a Mark Zuckerberg or say whatever I wanted to say because I couldn’t handle what I saw.

“ And already we’re making progress, I can tell, with Facebook and stuff like that. But for me, I can’t stand the fact that people need to know that there are neo-Nazi groups online, that there are hate groups online, and that the United States is voting against the COVID virus.

“It’s just that they don’t have the right to do that. It’s supposed to be a place where people share their lives, but not to create hatred and harm people. And you know what? Hurt people, hurt people. And I just think that’s what matters.

“ I’m very passionate about it, so I can get pretty passionate about it, but I just think it’s necessary to call the people responsible, but at the same time, to be able to do what I can. ”

At the time of the Capitol attack, Selena wrote: ‘Today is the result of allowing hateful people to use platforms that should be used to bring people together and allow people to build a community. ”

She continued, “ Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Jack Dorsey, Sundar Pichai, Susan Wojcicki – you all let the American people down today and I hope you make things right. in the future. ”

The artist named the leaders after Trump supporters staged massive protests alongside the Republican Congressional dispute over election results, ahead of President-elect Biden’s scheduled inauguration on January 20.

Elsewhere in her interview with Zane Lowe, Selena spoke about her new single De Una Vez – which means At Once – and her upcoming album in Spanish.

Born in Texas, Selena, of Mexican descent, has revealed that she thinks her singing voice is better in Spanish than in English.

She said: ‘This is something that I have wanted to do for 10 years, working on a Spanish project, because I am so, so proud of my heritage, and I really feel like I wanted to it happens.

And it happened, and I feel like it’s the perfect time. Just with all the division in the world, there’s something about Latin music that, overall, makes people feel things, you know?

“You know what’s funny is that I actually think I sing better in Spanish. This is something that I discovered. It was a lot of work, and look, you can’t say nothing bad.

“ This is something that had to be precise and that had to be respected by the audience for whom I’m going to publish this. Of course, I want everyone to enjoy the music, but I’m targeting my fan base. I’m targeting my heritage and couldn’t be more enthusiastic.

She continued, “ I think it’s something I’ve always loved, and you’re right. In these five years it has become a little more important, and you are starting to listen to the radio more than ever before in English, part Spanish.

“And it’s a really exciting time. And I think I just hope people understand how much I put my heart in there and how amazing I feel.

Earlier this month, Selena slammed Facebook for reports that they had spread false information about the novel coronavirus, which she said has deadly consequences.

She shared a link to a clip from a BBC segment featuring Imi Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a London non-profit organization.

In it, Ahmed said that social media companies have done ‘absolutely nothing’ to stop the spread of false information about vaccines and other aspects of the pandemic, citing experiences they have conducted. .

Selena responded to the segment in a tweet, saying: ‘Scientific disinformation has cost and will cost lives. @Facebook said they don’t allow lies about COVID and vaccines to be spread on their platforms.

“So how is it that all of this is still happening?” Facebook will be responsible for thousands of deaths if they don’t act now! ”

Selena had previously called up the sites following a report (CCDH) that neo-Nazis were able to trade through the two sites.

She said: ‘I am speechless. @Facebook @Instagram how do you tolerate this hate? There are still accounts there even though you have been warned !! ‘

In September, Selena took to Instagram Stories to share a DM she previously sent to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg regarding the problematic aspects of social media sites.

“Facebook and Instagram are used to spread hatred, disinformation, racism and bigotry,” she wrote. “I’m calling you both to help stop this.” Please close groups and users focused on spreading violence and disinformation in hate speech. Our future depends on it. ‘