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Steve Wozniak Leaves Facebook, Deactivates Account

In the wake of a huge privacy violation, several high-profile Facebook users are abandoning the social media platform. This morning, Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak announced he was leaving the site, as well as deactivating his account.

Steve Wozniak
Editorial credit: Viappy / Shutterstock.com

The Woz sent an email to USA Today citing his reasons for leaving, most of them centering on the estimated 87 million Facebook users whose personal information was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.

Reportedly starting today, the affected users should be getting a message in their news feeds informing them of the data breach. There will also be a link sent to the 2.2 billion Facebook users to review apps linked to accounts and what information is actually available to those apps.

While USA Today didn't publish the full Woz email, they did note some main points:

  • "I am in the process of leaving Facebook. It's brought me more negatives than positives. Apple has more secure ways to share things about yourself. I can still deal with old school email and text messages," Wozniak posted on Sunday.
  • "I was surprised to see how many categories for ads and how many advertisers I had to get rid of, one at a time. I did not feel that this is what people want done to them," he said. "Ads and spam are bad things these days and there are no controls over them. Or transparency."
  • "Users provide every detail of their life to Facebook and … Facebook makes a lot of advertising money off this. The profits are all based on the user's info, but the users get none of the profits back."
  • "Apple makes its money off of good products, not off of you," Wozniak said. "As they say, with Facebook, you are the product."

Earlier today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg went to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers including members of committees holding hearings this week on the Cambridge Analytica issues.


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Mary Anne ButlerAbout Mary Anne Butler

Bleeding Cool News Editor Mary Anne Butler (Mab, for short) has been part of the fast-paced world of journalism since she was 15, getting her start in album reviews and live concert coverage for a nationally published (print) music magazine. She eventually transitioned to online media, writing for such sites as UGO/IGN, ComicsOnline, Geek Magazine, Ace of Geeks, Aggressive Comix (where she is still Editor-in-Chief), and most recently Bleeding Cool. 

Over the past 10 years, she’s built a presence at conventions across the globe as a cosplayer (occasionally), photographer (constantly), panelist and moderator (mostly), and reporter (always). 

 Interviews, reviews, observations, breaking news, and objective reporting are the name of the game for the founder of Harkonnen Knife Fight, a Dune-themed band with an international presence. 

 Though she be but little, she is fierce. #MabTheProfessional
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