In case Facebook was hoping it could make it to the end of the year without any more bad press, Walt Mossberg had a surprise for it. Mossberg, who recently retired as one of the most respected technology journalists around, announced to his 266,185 followers that he is deactivating his Facebook account.
“I am doing this — after being on Facebook for nearly 12 years — because my own values and the policies and actions of Facebook have diverged to the point where I’m no longer comfortable here,” the former Wall Street Journal, Verge, and Recode writer wrote in his Facebook post. He also announced he was leaving Messenger and had deleted the Instagram app, which, as you may recall, is owned by Facebook. He is, however, remaining on Twitter and invited followers to direct-message him there.
In the post, Mossberg stressed that deactivating his account was a personal decision that wasn’t made to “spark some dump-Facebook movement” or publicly embarrass any Facebook employees or their work. In fact, he left open the possibility that he would return to Facebook someday in the future if it becomes “effectively regulated.” That said, he has “no current plans to do that as of now.” Mossberg is deactivating his account “around the end of the year,” so go ahead and un-friend him first, just to tell everyone you did.
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