In case you've been living under a rock for the past few days, the blowback from revelations involving Facebook, a shady company called Cambridge Analytica, and the possibility that democracy as we know it is under serious threat are beginning to snap into focus for everyone.

Since the news broke - and it's still coming, by all accounts - of Facebook's involvement in all of this, there's been growing calls to abandon the social media platform as a whole. Last night, however, saw one of the most high-profile and deeply involved parties in Facebook history - Brian Acton, the co-founder of Whatsapp - get involved.

For those who don't know, Whatsapp was created by Jan Koum and Brian Acton and was bought by Facebook in 2014 for a total of $14 BILLION. It's not known whether or not Acton is still involved with Facebook or Whatsapp, however according to a report by Wired, Acton invested $50 million into Signal - which is essentially a Whatsapp alternative.

Acton isn't the only person who's spoken out about Facebook who's had previous dealings with them. An early investor in Facebook, Roger McNamee, pointed out that although Facebook didn't "set out to increase political polarization and empower bad actors to undermine democracy," the outcome of what happened with Trump and the US election was "inevitable."

Not only that, Chamath Palihapitiya - who was once the Head of Growth for Facebook - said that the social media platform had "created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works," and that he was "incredibly guilty" about his time working there.

So, yeah, maybe it's time we all ditched Facebook. Vero, anyone?

 

Via Twitter