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WhatsApp Co-Founder Tells Everyone To Delete Facebook, Further Fueling the #DeleteFacebook Movement (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the call-to-arms dept.

"In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion, making its co-founders -- Jan Koum and Brian Acton -- very wealthy men," reports The Verge. "Koum continues to lead the company, but Acton quit earlier this year to start his own foundation." Today, Acton told his followers on Twitter to delete Facebook. From the report: "It is time," Acton wrote, adding the hashtag #deletefacebook. Acton, who is worth $6.5 billion, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did Facebook and WhatsApp. It was unclear whether Acton's feelings about Facebook extend to his own app. But last month, Acton invested $50 million into Signal, an independent alternative to WhatsApp. The tweet came after a bruising five-day period for Facebook that has seen regulators swarm and its stock price plunge following concerns over data privacy in the wake of revelations about Cambridge Analytica's misuse of user data. Acton isn't the only one taking to Twitter to announce their breakup with Facebook. The #DeleteFacebook movement is gaining steam following the New York Times' report about how the data of 50 million users had been unknowingly leaked and purchased to aid President Trump's successful 2016 bid for the presidency. For many users, the news "highlighted the danger of Facebook housing the personal information of billions of users," reports SFGate. "And even before the Cambridge Analytica news, Facebook has been grappling with its waning popularity in the U.S. The company lost 1 million domestic users last quarter -- its first quarterly drop in daily users."

3 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. #idontwantsocialmedia by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have a new tag: #idontwantsocialmedia. Now I am going to post this tag everywhere!

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  2. Deleting Facebook.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    WhatsApp Co-Founder Tells Everyone To Delete Facebook

    Friend of mine proudly told me one day that he deleted Facebook, but to my great disappointment, the next day I was still able to ping it.

    I hope someone manages it though.

  3. Another company ruined by Trump... by mi · · Score: 3, Funny

    New York Times' report about how the data of 50 million users had been unknowingly leaked and purchased to aid President Trump's successful 2016 bid for the presidency

    See, how Trump destroyed the innocent company? In 2012 Obama's campaign did the same thing with Facebook data about millions of users, and it was all fine — a testament to Obama's genius, in fact.

    Had Hillary won, Facebook would've been just peachy as well. Damn Trump!! #Impeach!!

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.