Cyrus Langhorne
Two of the biggest social media platforms are catching the worst media coverage in recent memory. A week after Snapchat caught a huge L for approving a disturbing pro-domestic violence ad aimed at Rihanna, now Facebook is facing a viral campaign encouraging people to delete their accounts.
Tuesday (March 20) night, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton – who reportedly left Facebook Inc. last year – has encouraged users to follow suit.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
A few years back, Acton made billions for selling message service WhatsApp to Facebook.
While his Facebook profile was still active for hours after his tweet, it appeared deactivated later Tuesday night. Acton and fellow co-founder Jan Koum sold the messaging service WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014 for $22 billion. Acton received about $3 billion in the deal, and has a net worth of about $5.5 billion, according to Forbes. (MarketWatch)
Acton’s anti-Facebook campaign comes following continued coverage of the platform having potential ties to President Donald Trump‘s 2016 presidential campaign.
The remark comes amid growing public outrage over the misuse of the private information of tens of millions Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, the firm that claimed it helped Donald Trump win the White House. The news broke over the weekend and has ignited a full-blown crisis, with U.S. and European lawmakers demanding hearings and investigations underway by the Federal Trade Commission and two state attorneys general. (USA Today)
Finally deleted my @facebook account. If you're angry about what facebook has done with our data then just #deletefacebook We all moved on from MySpace we can move on from facebook too. Remember we aren't the customers we are the product #CambridgeAnalytica
— Eric (@ecarpen) March 17, 2018
For users unwilling to break up with Facebook, there are ways to limit how much personal data it gathers from accounts.
If you're not ready to delete Facebook, here's how to limit the data you give it https://t.co/8GXQfkB4fe
— BuzzFeed Tech (@fwd) March 20, 2018
The sudden #DeleteFacebook hashtag has already taken over social media.
The #DeleteFacebook hashtag is trending on the internet. Millions of users are leaving Facebook. It has lost over 60 billion dollar in value within a week, and 10 billion today. Word on the street is 24% of the total amount of users have left. Join us and leave #Facebook behind! pic.twitter.com/KzZpiYJILp
— Anonymous 🍀⌛#CloversForAssange (@YourMarkLubbers) March 20, 2018
If you need a good reason to #DeleteFacebook then how about this? Most of us don't need to buy popularity, but @Conservatives actually paid to have their Facebook posts liked. Over £100,000 every month. pic.twitter.com/X54OpVlpHu
— Rachael Swindon (@Rachael_Swindon) March 20, 2018
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/976251842748280834
https://twitter.com/doctor_oxford/status/976017567247683584
Don't just #DeleteFacebook – have nothing to do with them and get other people to do the same. Social media has moved on. I had 4 accounts closed in 4 days last week, without any explanation whatsoever, but far-right groups get to keep spreading hate.
— Rachael Swindon (@Rachael_Swindon) March 20, 2018
screw u mark zuck #deleteFACEBOOK pic.twitter.com/qwEbg3hFI9
— ROSIE (@Rosie) March 19, 2018
