Actor and filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg has made it clear that he doesn't want to be linked to Mark Zuckerberg, calling some of the Meta CEO’s actions "problematic."
Eisenberg, who earned an Oscar nomination for playing Zuckerberg in David Fincher's "The Social Network," distanced himself from the tech billionaire in comments to BBC 4 on Tuesday, noting that he had been following Zuckerberg’s life trajectory.
"I don’t want to think of myself as associated with somebody like that," he said, according to Deadline.
"It’s not like I played a great golfer or something and now people think I’m a great golfer," Eisenberg continued. "It’s like this guy that’s doing things that are problematic, taking away fact-checking and safety concerns, making people who are already threatened in this world more threatened."
Eisenberg also shared his concerns about Meta and the broader tech industry.
"These people have billions upon billions of dollars, like more money than any human person has ever amassed and what are they doing with it?" he said. "Oh, they’re doing it to curry favor with somebody who’s preaching hate. That’s what I think … not as like a person who played in a movie. I think of it as somebody who is married to a woman who teaches disability justice in New York and lives for her students are going to get a little harder this year."
As Donald Trump prepared for his second term in the White House, Zuckerberg rolled out major changes to content moderation on Facebook and Instagram, including the removal of fact-checking. Many viewed the move as an effort to win favor with Trump, who had repeatedly slammed Meta's moderation policies. The company also scrapped its diversity programs.
Eisenberg meanwhile, is currently promoting "A Real Pain," a comedy-drama that he wrote, directed, and stars in. The film follows two cousins who travel to Poland to visit Holocaust sites in honor of their late grandmother, according to BBC.
The grandmother is inspired by Eisenberg's real-life Aunt Doris, and parts of the movie were filmed at his family's former home in Poland. Eisenberg's screenplay has earned an Oscar nomination, along with his co-star, Kieran Culkin.