To say the past few weeks have been rough for Facebook is putting it lightly. Ever since news spread of the platform’s involvement in the Cambridge Analytica data mining scandal, Facebook has taken some serious financial hits and some ugly verbal ones from tech heavy hitters like Apple CEO Tim Cook. Now, it’s Steve Wozniak who’s has a proverbial bone with the social media company. The Apple co-founder announced that he’s shutting down his account.
Facebook “profiles are all based on the user’s info, but the users get none of the profits back,” Wozniak explained in an email to USA Today. Whereas the social media giant makes advertising money by capitalizing on user data, Wozniak says “Apple makes money off of good products, not off of you.” Damn. It’s worth noting that Wozniak isn’t deleting his account, but simply deactivating it, claiming that he didn’t want to lose his username, “stevewoz,” to some random. “I don't want someone else grabbing it, even another Steve Wozniak,” he said.
The news comes on the eve of the day Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify on Capitol Hill about his company’s privacy failures that affected as many as 87 million users, the vast majority of which (over 70 million) of whom are American. Zuckerberg is due in court both Tuesday and Wednesday. If you were one of the users targeted by Cambridge Analytica, expect a detailed message on your newsfeed soon. Even if you weren’t, all of Facebook’s 2.2 billion users will be receiving a notification titled “Protecting Your Information” with a link that shows you which apps you use and the information you’ve shared with them. It’s the least Facebook could do, I guess.
