00:00I'm particularly passionate about this because I'm the fool who believed in social media when it arrived in around about
00:072006-2007 there was a slow movie every year a new one came out Facebook with them followed by Twitter and so on and and
00:14They became all-powerful
00:21Hello sir, such an honor to meet you. Thank you so much for your time
00:24I was doing my research, you know
00:27Tonight and I'd write down a couple of projects underneath each person's name under your name. I wrote everything
00:34There's so much. I would like to talk to you about
00:36The first thing I want to say is how wonderful your tie is. Oh, I'm glad you like it
00:40Yeah, was this a personal choice or a stylist choice? I looked at the
00:44Invitation because I suddenly thought oh my god, is it black tie, you know
00:49Dinner jacket and he said cocktail and I thought
00:53cocktail
00:54What does that involve something bright and fun statement?
00:58He so I thought that would be reasonable and quite the statement quite the statements to make for a man
01:03Who is an icon tonight? Well, thank you. I'm what's wonderful. I want to be bestowed upon you by the Newport Beach Film Festival
01:10I'm sure you've had that word thrown at you a few times. How does it feel tonight to be recognized as an icon?
01:15Well, it's very charming. I
01:18I'll give away a joke that I think I'll tell if it works
01:20I was trying to work. I'll be a test on you. Yeah, I
01:25I
01:27was always an icon I'm gonna say when and I remember when I was a little icon and
01:33It proved true
01:35That great oaths from little icons grow. I love something like that work. Well, that does it thank you
01:44How has your I guess we're at the stage where we're still reflecting 24 looking forward to 25
01:48I think in the last year. I've seen a lot more vocal support from you for social media changes. I think it's such a great
01:56Campaign to get behind how do we approach us? And it was a big question to us right now, but what's your what's the plan?
02:01Well, it's interesting. I think in a strange way
02:05It's very similar to our water crisis
02:10Nobody wants our children to swim in contaminated waters
02:15And I think when people stop and think they probably don't want our children to breathe the kind of contaminated air of the culture
02:22that social media has
02:24belched out
02:26toxins for too long and
02:29It is simply a question of the same kind of protections we give ourselves against any other forms of poison
02:36And I'm particularly passionate about this because I'm the fool who believed in social media when it arrived in around about
02:442006-2007 there was a slow movie every year a new one came out Facebook with them followed by Twitter and so on and
02:51They became all powerful and at first seemed so wonderful
02:55The so-called Arab Spring of when was that 2011-2012 something like that. It's spread all the way across North Africa
03:02from Tunisia to the Yemen and and now you look at
03:06actually those
03:08And and they didn't last what seemed to be the hope that citizens would band together and make things better
03:17seems to be
03:19deeply exploded as an idea and
03:22Unfortunately instead of the cream rising to the top
03:25Scum rises to the top as it does in polluted rivers. So, you know the metaphor holds a bit
03:31I
03:32know
03:33the billionaires and the vested interests
03:37Who
03:38Want to quash any idea of control? We'll talk about free speech
03:44hilarious
03:46you know, I mean but
03:51The fact is on newspapers
03:55Which I now believe in more than I ever used to to be honest because well, you know, there are serious journalists
04:01They're telling stories and they are subject to
04:05controls to regulations the regulations that are self-inflicted and indeed wider ones and that's true in broadcasting
04:13In America as well as in Britain, you the BBC and you and I TV you ITM
04:20You have to follow certain guidelines to make sure that you're being responsible
04:25You can't just sound off and make things up if you do it's a scandal for you
04:32Facebook is a far bigger newspaper than any of the ones in the world put together
04:38Because it's you know, something like 80% of people get their news from Facebook
04:42But if you say to them, well, you should have the same regulations that apply to newspapers
04:48Oh, no, because we're a platform
04:50That's a kind of meaningless form of words as if that somehow excuses them
04:54It's like saying it's like a criminal saying no, I don't count as a person. Yeah
05:00It's just nonsense
05:01When you say about the Arab Spring in 2011 of words that was brought out. That was a citizen journalism. Yes
05:09Yeah, but now it's kind of like being bloody like anything citizen journalism. Well, it's unfortunately it's what happens the wheel turns
05:18I'm old enough to remember the very early days of Silicon Valley and there's a lot of guys
05:22Most of the guys it must be said guys and girls as well
05:25They're in in jeans and t-shirts who wanted to make the world a better place and who were screaming with delight at what the technology
05:32was offering phrases like insanely great were used and and and it was all given away because
05:39It was for everybody like science. It was fabulous and
05:44If you know George Orwell's animal farm the the pigs
05:48Slowly
05:50Stand on two feet and start wearing trousers and this has happened in Silicon Valley that
05:56That the people who wanted to improve the world and wanted to make things exciting and free and open have been absolutely
06:03Deluged by every detail of capitalism the money that was behind them because obviously the problem was that the things like Facebook
06:11whatever got very big and
06:14Cost a lot of money to run so they had to have advertising so they had to have venture capitalists
06:19So they had to have money put into them and the people who did that
06:22We're not interested in making the world a better place
06:24They were interested in another jet and another island another, you know
06:29Another billion and another billion on top of that and the power that comes with it and the more they get that I mean
06:35trouble
06:36They don't these people don't really
06:39Care about anything other than the money they made
06:44and
06:45Politicians are in
06:46Never been weaker and who on earth would ever be a politician now?
06:51Nobody I wouldn't you wouldn't
06:55Everything you do is scrutinized to death so that you were apparently going to be I mean poor Rachel Reeves
07:01I don't know the story behind how many years she worked, you know
07:05And and whether or not she's you know, been a bit of a con artist or not
07:09But it's a perfect example of what she should just go to hell
07:13Why on earth would I bother to try to do anything and that's true on all sides nothing to do with the fact that she's
07:19Left or right. It's just no politician. I decide from anything else. They're insulted and threatened and as we saw
07:27Murder, you know, it's it's we're living in a time of absolute crisis
07:32No one's in charge and the people who are
07:35Not in charge that are running things
07:38Are greedy corrupt violence brutal and have no interest in
07:44institutions of that keep things balanced and
07:48work for ordinary people
07:50Stephen I could talk to you all night long, but I'm being so selfish because so many people want to talk to you
07:54But thank you so much. Maybe sound off now. I go. I love that. I'm gonna come across
07:58Someone will cheer you up. I'm sorry
08:00Thank you
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