Stephen King Makes Big Move on Social Media

Author has quit Facebook over concerns on 'false information,' privacy
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 3, 2020 6:12 AM CST
Stephen King: See Ya, Facebook
This May 22, 2018, file photo shows Stephen King at the PEN Literary Gala in New York.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Last month, Facebook decided it wasn't going to bar or fact-check political ads during this election season, nor keep those ads from being targeted to certain groups of people. Now, partly based on that, Stephen King has made his own decision: He has left the social media site for good. "I'm quitting Facebook," the 72-year-old tweeted Friday. "Not comfortable with the flood of false information that's allowed in its political advertising, nor am I confident in its ability to protect its users' privacy." Per CNN Business, the horror author's Facebook page has indeed been nixed.

Twitter banned political ads entirely late last year, while Google revamped its policy regarding how its own political ads target consumers. MarketWatch notes other big names, such as Mark Hamill, have recently dumped Facebook over similar concerns. "So disappointed that #MarkZuckerberg values profit more than truthfulness," the Star Wars star wrote in his own tweet last month. If you're worried you won't see King's posts anymore about his work, politics—he's been quite vocal about his feelings toward President Trump, for example—or his corgi, Molly, never fear: He'll still be online. "Follow me (and Molly, aka The Thing of Evil) on Twitter, if you like," he added in his tweet. (More Stephen King stories.)

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