Elton John urge fans to boycott social media over homophobic content

Music legend Elton John has called upon his fans to boycott the social media, saying the tech companies have failed to check the homophobic content and hate speech on their platforms.

In an interview with BBC, the 71-year-out music legend accused social media companies of failure to "try to stem the flow of hate on the internet," and said that a boycott could make them "sit up" and deal with the menace.

"I don't know why they allow it. It's supposed to be free speech, but the things that are on social media are so disgusting that there has to be action taken by the people who own these companies... People say, 'well, what about my freedom of speech?' Well, sod your freedom of speech," John said.

John believes the tech giants like Facebook and Instagram had a "public role and responsibility" and said they should take action against the propagators of hate speech.

"Companies like Facebook and Instagram cannot pretend they are purely private enterprises. I believe they have a public role and responsibility," John said.

"But if we found ways to automatically respond to hatred with fact, good could be all the way around the world before falsehood even got its boots on," he added.