Sacha Baron Cohen on Thursday used his speech accepting the ADL’s International Leadership Award in New York to call out social media giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google for their roles in amplifying hatred and violence in society. “All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history,” he told the crowd. “Think about it. Facebook, YouTube and Google, Twitter and others—they reach billions of people. The algorithms these platforms depend on deliberately amplify the type of content that keeps users engaged—stories that appeal to our baser instincts and that trigger outrage and fear.” Related Story Facebook Watch To Stream ‘An Evening With Elton John’ He specifically refuted recent comments from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, whom he said “not surprisingly, warned against new laws and regulations on companies like his. Well, some of these arguments are simply absurd.” “It’s time to finally call these companies what they really are—the largest publishers in history. And here’s an idea for them: abide by basic standards and practices just like newspapers, magazines and TV news do every day.” Baron Cohen, in a rare public appearance speaking as himself rather than his…