Jim Carrey is dumping his Facebook stock because the company “profited from Russian interference in our elections,” the actor said in a tweet on Tuesday.
“I’m dumping my @facebook stock and deleting my page because @facebook profited from Russian interference in our elections and they’re still not doing enough to stop it. I encourage all other investors who care about our future to do the same,” he wrote with the hashtag #unfriendfacebook.
The tweet also included a drawing of Mark Zuckerberg alongside a thumbs down emoji.
“For a long time America enjoyed a geographical advantage in the world with oceans on both sides to protect it. Now, social media has created cyber-bridges over which those who do not have our best interest in mind can cross and we are allowing it. No wall is going to protect us from that,” Carrey said in a statement obtained by TheWrap.
“We must encourage more oversight by the owners of these social media platforms. This easy access has to be more responsibly handled. What we need now are activist investors to send a message that responsible oversight is needed. What the world needs now is capitalism with a conscience.”
Facebook has spent much of the last six months grappling with the fallout from the 2016 U.S. presidential election when Russian trolls leveraged the social network to spread disinformation. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hesitant to place much weight on the situation immediately after the election, saying it was “crazy” to think fake news played much of a roll.
But his tone, along with Facebook’s, has since changed. In November, Zuckerberg said he’s “dead serious” about wiping the problem from the social network.
“Protecting our community is more important than maximizing profits,” said the exec.
In November, Facebook General Counsel Collin Stretch told congressional investigators 146 million Americans saw Russian ads before and after the 2016 election. The IRA pumped out 80,000 pieces of content across Facebook and Instagram — a stark jump from the 3,000 Facebook had initially claimed.
Since then, Facebook has introduced a myriad of changes, including a page for users to check if they’re following pages secretly run by Russian agents. And last month, Facebook announced it will be focusing less on viral videos and media content, and more on “meaningful interactions” in the News Feed between family and friends.
A spokesperson for Facebook has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
See Carrey’s tweet below.
https://twitter.com/JimCarrey/status/960953156262744065