Playboy is leaving Facebook, for good, it says, with the social giant's latest user-privacy scandal the straw that broke the camel's back for the media company.
Playboy Enterprises said it will deactivate its accounts on Facebook, which cumulatively have more than 25 million followers.
"The recent news about Facebook's alleged mismanagement of users' data has solidified our decision to suspend our activity on the platform at this time," Playboy Enterprises said in a statement.
In a tweet Tuesday, Playboy chief creative officer Cooper Hefner - son of the late Hugh Hefner, the mag's famed founder - said, "We are stepping away from Facebook."
"Facebook's content guidelines and corporate policies continue contradicting our values," the exec wrote. "We've tried to craft our voice for the platform, which in our opinion continues to be sexually repressive."
Hefner added, "Learning of the recent meddling in a free US election further demonstrates another concern we have of how they handle users' data."
Playboy is maintaining its presence on Facebook-owned Instagram (where Hefner's statement also was posted).
For Facebook, Playboy's move is part of a worrisome backlash against the company, exemplified by the DeleteFacebook hashtag, that has grown in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica revelations.
The UK-based political consulting firm obtained info on 50 million users, without Facebook's knowledge and without the consent of the users themselves.
About eight per cent of Facebook users said they plan to stop using the service because of data-privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Reuters.
