WhatsApp co-founder wants everyone to delete their Facebook accounts
One of the co-founders of messaging service WhatsApp now wants everyone to delete their Facebook account.
This is after the social media giant came under fire this week following reports that it gave access to data of over 50 million users to British firm Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook is being accused of not protecting the privacy of its users.
Brian Acton, the co-founder of WhatsApp who sold part of his company to Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion, on Tuesday joined the increasing chorus of the #deletefacebook movement.
In a post on Twitter, Acton told his followers to delete Facebook.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
Acton, who is worth $6.5 billion, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. WhatsApp declined to comment.
Cambridge Analytica was on Monday exposed by Britain’s Channel 4 News on how the right-leaning digital marketing firm targeted voters with propaganda to influence their voting decisions including Kenya.
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.
Facebook has seen regulators swarm and its stock price plunge following concerns over data privacy in the wake of revelations about misuse of user data.
Cambridge Analytica got that data from the creator of a quiz taken by 270,000 Facebook users. That quiz creator passed the data to Cambridge Analytica against Facebook policy.
Facebook knew about the data leak back in 2015, but the public only learned after reports in the New York Times and Observer over the weekend.