Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Quits Facebook Over Data Collection

Another tech celebrity has abandoned Facebook–Steve Wozniak has erased his presence from the social network on Sunday. He made an announcement on Facebook that he is leaving the platform over the security of his personal information.

“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,” he said in the Facebook post.

Before deactivating his account, he wanted to delete some ad-related stuff and was shocked by the extent of Facebook’s data collection. Wozniak said that he would consider paying for the service rather than giving away his information that fuels the company’s advertisement platform.

It’s the hard truth for Facebook users to understand. Last week, their COO Sheryl Sandberg said that users would have to pay if they want to opt-out of data-based ads.

The Apple co-founder who left the company more than three decades ago has praised Apple for their privacy practices, just like many others have done in the Facebook scandal. He said that Apple makes money from products, not people. Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on Facebook’s data collection policies, but Zuckerberg responded by calling it “extremely glib.”

While it’s a surprise for some, Wozniak’s announcement doesn’t come as a total shocker. Especially, when people and tech leaders across the globe are busy criticizing Facebook.

In the CA case, the company estimated the number of affected users to be 87 million. However, amid all the fire they’re facing, Facebook still confidently claims that user engagement on the platform isn’t considerably impacted.

Mark Zuckerberg (still the best person to run Facebook) has to testify against the Congress this week. Facebook has announced changes to their platform to win people’s trust back.

It may be in the coming future that we may see Steve Wozniak’s return to the social network. He has deactivated his account but not permanently deleted it. Maybe, he left room for a change of mind other than the reason that didn’t want to lose his “stevewoz” screen name.

Source: USA Today