After Elon Musk removed the Facebook pages for Tesla and SpaceX, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak is the latest high-profile tech figure to openly denounce the platform amid its very messy data scandal, which remains in high gear.
Wozniak, who needs no introduction given his many contributions to some of Apple's finest products, says he's leaving the platform in light of concerns over security safeguards for personal information users share with the social media site.
Steve Wozniak Leaves Facebook
"I am in the process of leaving Facebook. It's brought me more negatives than positives," Wozniak writes in a post on April 8, as USA Today reports. He also notes that Apple handles security much better than Mark Zuckerberg's company.
"Apple has more secure ways to share things about yourself. I can still deal with old school email and text messages."
As of writing, his profile is now inaccessible, presumably deleted.
Wozniak's statements marks the latest in the present back-and-forth between tech figures and Facebook as the company faces intense scrutiny on top of public outcry over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Facebook Cambridge Analytica Fiasco
A couple of weeks ago, major publications exposed Facebook's knowledge of Cambridge Analytica's data-collection habits, but didn't inform its users about any of it. The reports had alleged the firm of collecting information from 50 million Facebook users — in a recent update, Facebook confirmed the number is actually close to 90 million.
Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about Facebook's troubles in March, saying Apple wouldn't have run into the same situation when asked how he would handle a crisis had he been in Zuckerberg's shoes. He also stressed that Apple reviews all apps as a way to weed out potential violators of its privacy standards.
Zuckerberg will soon face the U.S. Congress to testify about his company's data scandal. Facebook, needless to say, remains in a tough pickle. Some users have joined the #DeleteFacebook bandwagon and are trying to get off the platform, for starters. The company has also delayed its plans to release its lineup of speakers seeing as this is probably not an opportune time to unveil hardware that will collect even more data.
It should be noted, however, that leaving Facebook means leaving other platforms it owns, too, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. While it's possible to leave Facebook without retiring from Messenger, there's always the risk that Facebook will keep on collecting data on its users.
