Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
US actor Jeremy Allen White wants greater safeguards on social media platforms, saying the potential for harm is “scary” without regulation.
The 35-year-old stars in the upcoming thriller The Social Reckoning as journalist Jeff Horwitz, who teams up with Facebook employee Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) to blow the whistle on the social network’s most guarded secrets.
Written, directed and co-produced by Aaron Sorkin, the film is based on the 2021 true story centred on the Wall Street Journal’s expose The Facebook Files, while drawing on the power of social media to spread misinformation.
Allen White, best known for the hit TV series The Bear and long-running drama Shameless, was flanked by his co-star Madison at a gala screening for the film in London on Tuesday.
“There needs to be more safeguards with all of these companies,” he told the Press Association.
“I don’t mean to bully Facebook – all of these massive tech companies need more safeguards,” he said.
“For air travel, there’s third-party regulators. For pharmaceuticals, there’s third-party regulators. There should be a third-party regulator for these big companies.
“I hope there’s conversation around things like that coming out of the film.”
“I was born in 1991, so I remember a world without all this,” the actor said.
“It’s all moving so fast, and it is scary what it could become if there is no adjustment or regulation for it.”
Sorkin created the film as a companion piece to his 2010 drama The Social Network, which detailed the founding of Facebook and the bitter legal battles that followed.
Sorkin described the spread of misinformation on social media as “the last thing we need right now”.
“I don’t think we can put the toothpaste back in the tube but what we can do is pass laws.”
The film also stars award-winning actor Jeremy Strong as tech mogul and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, as well as Wunmi Mosaku, Billy Magnussen and Betty Gilpin.
