Washington: After violent protestors stormed the United States Capitol on Wednesday (local time), American singer and actor Selena Gomez called out social media executives and said the incident was the result of allowing people with “hate in their hearts” to use social media platforms.
According to E! News, the ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ star took to Twitter and issued a message to the executives of Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube after the Capitol Building in Washington, DC was breached by a swarm of rioters protesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.
A chaotic and violent scene erupted at the Capitol on Wednesday as supporters of outgoing US President Donald Trump swarmed the building to protest the Electoral College vote, forcing a lockdown and various confrontations with police. One woman protester died at the Capitol after being shot.
Responding to the same, Selena tweeted, “Today is the result of allowing people with hate in their hearts to use platforms that should be used to bring people together and allow people to build community.”
She further added “Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Jack Dorsey, Sundar Pichai, Susan Wojcicki–you have all failed the American people today, and I hope you are going to fix things moving forward.”
This is not the first time the singer has spoken out against social media platforms. Last year in December, she slammed Facebook, questioning why disinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines was allegedly spreading on its platforms and urged them to take action.