WhatsApp co-founder starts #DeleteFacebook campaign after data privacy scandal

Rappler.com

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WhatsApp co-founder starts #DeleteFacebook campaign after data privacy scandal
Brian Acton tweets, 'It is time,' and uses the hashtag #DeleteFacebook

MANILA, Philippines – WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton took to Twitter on Tuesday, March 20, to denounce Facebook, the company which purchased his app for $16 billion.

Acton called on people to delete Facebook, saying, “It is time.” Acton followed the words with the hashtag #DeleteFacebook. 


 

The tweet follows a data privacy scandal involving Facebook and Trump-linked data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica, in which the firm harvested and misused data on 50 million Facebook users.

Calls for investigations in the United States and Europe followed the revelation of this scandal by whistleblower Christopher Wylie. 

Stances on #DeleteFacebook

Meanwhile, Facebook fans and those forced to use Facebook took different stances.

Some argued that giving away some information was an inevitable price to pay for the free service, while others cited rules circumvention (such as using untrue information on their Facebook accounts) as a means of enabling Facebook use while maintaining privacy.

Still others, while commenting on a discussion post Rappler made on Facebook, also called for people to get off Facebook for good. 

 

Casting a bad light

This is not the first time Facebook has been cast in an unfavorable light by people associated with it. 

Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya feels “tremendous guilt” for helping build Facebook into one tool he says is “ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.”

Facebook, in response, said it was “a very different company back then.” – Rappler.com

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