The 71-year-old musician blasts the hate speech, saying, 'People say, 'Well what about my freedom of speech?' Sod your freedom of speech.'

AceShowbiz - Elton John has called on his fans to boycott social media apps over homophobic abuse.

The "Rocket Man" musician hit out at technology companies who, he claimed, have allowed trolls to get away with hate speech on sites including Twitter and Instagram.

In an interview with BBC's Newsnight, he said firms have a "responsibility" to tackle online abuse.

"I don't know why they allow it," Elton angrily blasted. "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 and run these companies, and say, 'Enough's enough, we're spreading hate'.

"People say, 'Well what about my freedom of speech?' Sod your freedom of speech," he fired.

Suggesting a boycott of social media sites, he added: "Why not? Then they'll sit up. When the money is not coming in they'll sit up. They can do so much good, but first they have to clean house and become a much more moral and Christian thinking.

"A moral thinking compass for what's going on in the world. At the moment they're not doing that," Elton added.

The 71-year-old, who is married to husband David Furnish, said that hugely popular social media firms, such as Facebook and Instagram had "a public role and responsibility" to fight the online trolls.

"Imagine if they put their mic behind debates that could counter ignorance. Homophobia fuels shame, isolation, cruelty and anger, and therefore HIV," Elton explained. "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."

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