Social media is ‘terrible’: Selena Gomez
CANNES: US singer-actress Selena Gomez warned on Wednesday that social media has been "terrible" for her generation.
Speaking after her politically charged zombie flick, Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, opened the Cannes Film Festival, she said the platforms that helped make her famous - she has over 150 million followers on Instagram - are destructive in the wrong hands.
"I think that our world is going through a lot obviously. What Jim (Jarmusch) gestured to in the film is that social media has really been terrible for my generation," the 26-year-old told a news conference.
Her comments came as a Malaysian teenager from Kuching, Sarawak, took her own life after posting an Instagram poll on Monday asking if she should live or die.
Gomez also warned about the fake news on social media.
"They are not aware of the news. I think it's dangerous for sure if people aren't getting the right information sometimes."
She said pervasive Internet bullying "scares" her and has left many young people "devastated".
In light of her own massive social media presence, she was asked what celebrities and tech industry giants could do to make the online world less toxic.
"I think it's pretty impossible to make it safe at this point. There's no blocking anything, they're exposed to it immediately," she said.
However, she added she was "grateful" to have a platform and uses it to "share things that I'm really passionate about". - AFP
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