Here are all the celebrities who have said they're quitting Facebook after its very scandalous year

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To put it in simple terms, Facebook has had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year

The #DeleteFacebook hashtag went trending this year, as users went online to blast the popular network for its neverending series of controversies and scandals. Facebook made headlines in 2018 for its failure to curb hate speech, the spread of fake news across the platform, and the misappropriation and misuse of customer data — including a hacking attack that saw some users' data stolen

A study from April found that 1 in 10 Americans have deleted their Facebook over privacy concerns — a figure that doesn't reflect the most recent wave of scandals. People leaving the platform have included a number of prominent figures and celebrities who have publicly vowed they had, or would be, quitting Facebook.

Here are celebrities who have said this year they have (or planned to) delete their Facebook:

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Cher, singer and actress

cher
Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Cher's made it loud and clear on Twitter her distaste for Facebook. She said she deleted her Facebook account back in March, and in December seemed to indicate that she was trying to set up another page that was set up for her, as well. 

 

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Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX

Elon Musk
AP

Elon Musk -- the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Company -- is known for an active Twitter presence that's even landed him in some trouble. The tech executive is not shy about interacting with his Twitter followers, and it seems some of these interactions led him to take action on Facebook.

Followers pointed out to Musk in March that Tesla and SpaceX had official pages on Facebook. He responded he would get them taken down. The official pages for the two companies no longer exist on Facebook.

Official, checkmarked-verified Facebook pages for the two companies -- as well as the Boring Company - no longer exist on Facebook.

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Will Ferrell, actor and comedian

will ferrell
Scott Barbour/Getty

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March, comedian Will Ferrell wrote he would be deleting his official Facebook page. He told followers in a message he disapproved of "Cambridge Analytica's misuse of millions of Facebook users' information in order to undermine our democracy and infringe on our citizens' privacy."

The full message can be read below:

"Hi Friends,

I'm reaching out to let you know that in 72 hours I will be deleting my Facebook account. I am not deleting it immediately, in order to give this message enough time to get across to my fans and followers.

I have always had an aversion to social media and have primarily used it as a tool to help support our work at Funny Or Die, some of my personal projects, as well as charity causes that I am passionate about. Facebook allowed me to promote and share the work of many dedicated and talented individuals who deserved recognition.

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. 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.

I love my fans and hope to further interact with them through my comedy via the mediums of film and television.

-Will Ferrell"

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Brian Acton, cofounder of Facebook-owned WhatsApp

Brian Acton whatsapp cofounder
Brian Acton, cofounder of WhatsApp. Reuters/Mike Blake

Acton is one of the cofounders of messaging platform WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014. He tweeted the #DeleteFacebook hashtag after news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, with a simple, firm message: "It is time."

Acton left Facebook last year, and revealed details about his "extremely icy" relationship with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a September interview with Forbes.

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Kasie Hunt, journalist

kasie hunt
Kasie Hunt, NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent. Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images

Kasie Hunt, an NBC political journalist, posted on her Facebook that she would be deleting the page because "I simply don't trust them anymore."

While the original post was deleted when Hunt removed her Facebook page, she posted the same message on her Twitter:

 

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Rosie O'Donnell, actress and comedian

Rosie O'Donnell
Rosie O'Donnell. AP Photo/M. Spencer Green

When she wasn't feuding with President Donald Trump on Twitter, Rosie O'Donnell tweeted in March she had deleted her Facebook when asked by a follower.

A tweet from the next day, in which she called Facebook a "treacherous company," seemed to confirm her message that she deleted her page.

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Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple

Steve Wozniak
AP

Steve Wozniak told USA Today in April he planned to quit Facebook based on concerns over the platform's misuse of personal data for advertising purposes.

"Users provide every detail of their life to Facebook and ... Facebook makes a lot of advertising money off this," the Apple cofounder wrote in an email to USA Today. "The profits are all based on the user's info, but the users get none of the profits back."

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Walt Mossberg, journalist and technology columnist

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Recode

In a Twitter thread this month, tech journalist Walt Mossberg said he would not only delete Facebook, but also Facebook-owned apps Messenger and Instagram.

"My own values and the policies and actions of Facebook have diverged to the point where I’m no longer comfortable there," Mossberg wrote. "This is just a personal decision about where online I wish to participate."

 

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Jim Carrey, actor and comedian

jim carrey
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

The actor announced his plans to quit Facebook way back in February. His move came before the hashtage #DeleteFacebook started trending in March, so he instead opted for the hashtag #UnfriendFacebook.

Carrey also wrote on Twitter he was dumping his Facebook stock.

 

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David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO of Basecamp and creator of Ruby on Rails programming framework

David Heinemeier Hansson basecamp
David Heinemeier Hansson. Brian Cleary/Getty Images

With a large Twitter following, the web programmer better known as DHH started to use his Twitter recently to rally others to join him in deleting their Facebook accounts.

Hansson also announced that his software company Basecamp would abandon Facebook and platforms the company owns. He declared on Twitter that Basecamp would be "100% Facebook-free," and encouraged others to do the same for their businesses.

 

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Jessica Valenti, writer

jessica valenti
Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Valenti, cofounder of the feminist blog Feministing, tweeted this month she had deleted her Facebook. She wrote on Twitter, "it felt GREAT."

 

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Farhan Akhtar, Bollywood actor

Farhan Akhtar
Farhan Akhtar Milind Shelte/India Today Group/Getty Images

Akhar, a writer and director, notified Twitter followers in March he was deleting his personal Facebook page. His official fan page, however, is still active on Facebook.

 

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Lisa Helps, mayor of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

lisa helps victoria mayor
City of Victoria

Helps is the current mayor of Victoria, the capital city of the Canadian province British Columbia. In a post on her website from March, Helps said she was quitting Facebook because it had become "a toxic, echo chamber."

"I’m quitting Facebook so I stop contributing in any way to this cycle of psychological violence where fear and anger get more air time than joy," Helps wrote. "I look forward to more face to face conversations, less distractions, and keeping my noodle intact."

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John Edwards, privacy commissioner for New Zealand

john edwards. New Zealand Privacy Commissioner
University of Auckland/YouTube

In a post for New Zealand publication "The Spinoff," Edwards explained how Facebook was violating the country's privacy laws, and criticized the social network for its non-compliance.

"We applied our naming policy and today have identified Facebook as non-compliant with the New Zealand Privacy Act ... Under current law there is little more I am able to do to practically to protect my, or New Zealanders’ data on Facebook," Edwards wrote.  "That’s why I’ve deleted Facebook (for now)."

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