It should’ve happened years ago, but Donald Trump was finally permanently suspended from his Twitter account on Friday. After using the platform to incite an attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, the MAGA leader was also temporarily blocked from accessing Facebook and Instagram until at least the end of his presidency, and Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen couldn’t be more excited.
“This is the most important moment in the history of social media,” he tweeted on Friday evening. “The world’s largest platforms have banned the world’s biggest purveyor of lies, conspiracies and hate. To every Facebook and Twitter employee, user and advocate who fought for this—the entire world thanks you!”
Cohen’s investment in the censorship of Trump didn’t start yesterday. The 49-year-old comedian has long been an outspoken critic of Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, specifically decrying his unwillingness to effectively manage the spread of misinformation and right-wing conspiracies on the site.
In a 2019 keynote speech, Cohen called Facebook “the greatest propaganda machine in history”, and after Trump failed to concede the election in November, Cohen called on Zuckerberg to ban him from the platform in order to prevent something like the insurrection that just took place. Although Cohen is thrilled to see the big three social media companies finally snap into action, many people believe that Trump’s account suspensions came far too late.
Coincidentally, the day before Trump’s endless election fraud conspiracies manifested into an attempted coup, Cohen revealed that he’ll once again be retiring the Borat character as the Trump era comes to a close. In a new Variety profile, Cohen explained that he only made a sequel to his beloved 2006 film because of the terrifying absurdity of the Trump presidency, and now he feels it’s time to move forward.
“I brought Borat out because of Trump,” he said. “There was a purpose to this movie, and I don’t really see the purpose to doing it again. So yeah, he’s locked away in the cupboard.”
This is the most important moment in the history of social media.
The world’s largest platforms have banned the world’s biggest purveyor of lies, conspiracies and hate.
To every Facebook and Twitter employee, user and advocate who fought for this–the entire world thanks you! pic.twitter.com/jihFaOA39G
— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) January 9, 2021
