Delete Facebook? This is what WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton wants

Brian Acton, the cofounder of the globally popular messaging app, Whatsapp, has asked people (his followers) to 'delete Facebook'. In a tweet, Acton wrote, "It is time. #deletefacebook." The messaging app WhatsApp, which was co-founded by former Yahoo employee Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2009, was acquired by Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook. The social network had acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. Acton left the company after it was acquired but the second co-founder Koum continues to lead the messaging platform. At present, Acton is running his own venture, named Signal.  The reason behind Acton's tweet is as yet unexplained, but this is not the first time when he has tweeted or spoken on Facebook. In 2009, voicing his concern over Facebook, he posted this tweet: "Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure." The tweet was posted after he applied for a job at the social media giant but was not able to make into it. 

Facebook under scrutiny 
Facebook has come under scrutiny after reports emerged that Cambridge Analytical, a data analytics company, accessed the company's user data for over 50 million accounts without their permission. Allegedly, the analytics company was also involved in helping US President Donald Trump to target voters on Facebook during Presidential Election 2016.  Paul Grewal, vice-president and deputy general counsel of Facebook, in his blog post revealed that "In 2015, we learned that a psychology professor at the University of Cambridge named Dr Aleksandr Kogan lied to us and violated our Platform Policies by passing data from an app that was using Facebook Login to SCL/Cambridge Analytica.”  The blog post also says, "Kogan requested and gained access to information from people after they chose to download his app. His app, “thisisyourdigitallife,” offered a personality prediction, and billed itself on Facebook as “a research app used by psychologists.”  The blog further says, approximately 270,000 people downloaded the app and in doing so, they gave their consent for Kogan to access information such as the city set on their profile. 

Action against Facebook in Britain 
Amid a growing row over data breaches linked to the popular social media company, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg was summoned before a UK parliamentary committee. The summons letter to 33-year-old Zuckerberg was sent by Damian Collins, the chair of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which is investigating the issue of fake news.  The letter states, it is now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process.

The letter has come as the UK's Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she would be applying to the court for a warrant to search the offices of the UK-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.  The firm is accused of using the data of 50 million Facebook members to influence the 2016 US presidential election.