Actor Will Ferrell has announced he will delete his Facebook account, which has more than 10 million likes, after he learned data firm Cambridge Analytica allegedly harvested more than 50 million users' information.
Ferrell, best known for his role as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman, wrote a message to his followers on Wednesday alerting them he would delete his account within 72 hours following the investigation into Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
He said he was "appalled" to have learned that Facebook's reaction to the situation was to suspend the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower's account.
"I know I am not alone when I say that I was very disturbed to hear about Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of millions of Facebook users’ information in order to undermine our democracy and infringe on our citizens’ privacy," he claimed.
"I was further appalled to learn that Facebook’s reaction to such a violation was to suspend the account of the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower."
"In this day and age, with misinformation running rampant, it’s important that we protect the truth, as well as those who work to bring it to light. I can no longer, in good conscience, use the services of a company that allowed the spread of propaganda and directly aimed it at those most vulnerable."
Ferrell is the latest high-profile celebrity/company to announce they will be leaving Facebook after Elon Musk removed his SpaceX and Tesla pages.
Verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla have disappeared, minutes after the Silicon Valley billionaire promised on Twitter to take down the pages when challenged by users.
"Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you're the man?" a user tweeted to Tesla chief executive Musk. His response: "I didn't realize there was one. Will do."
Facebook pages of SpaceX and Tesla, which had millions of followers, are no longer accessible.
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg plans to testify before the US Congress, a source briefed on the matter says, as he bows to pressure from lawmakers insisting he explain how 50 million users' data ended up in the hands of a political consultancy.
Lawmakers in the US and Europe are demanding to know more about the company's role in consultancy Cambridge Analytica's use of the data to target US and British voters in close-run elections.
