Playboy quits Facebook after Hugh Hefner’s son slams the site as ‘sexually repressive’
PLAYBOY is the latest member of the delete Facebook campaign.
The adult magazine's chief creative officer, and Hugh Hefner's son, Cooper Hefner announced that it's dumping the social network in a tweet.
"Facebook's content guidelines and corporate policies continue contradicting our values. We've tried to craft our voice for the platform, which in our opinion continues to be sexually repressive," said Hefner.
"Learning of the recent meddling in a free U.S. election further demonstrates another concern we have of how they handle users' data — more than 25 million of which are Playboy fans — making it clear to us that we must leave the platform."
Playboy's main Facebook page has now disappeared, but its international pages seem to be active.
The publisher is the latest big name to nod to the delete Facebook movement, which began in the wake of Facebook's latest privacy scandal.
Last week, billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk deleted the SpaceX and Tesla Facebook pages after prompts from fans on Twitter.
The social network has been grappling with the crisis over the past few weeks, after it came to light that it'd given away the personal info of 50 million users without their permission.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has been asked to appear before Parliament and Congress to give evidence about the data crisis - but is sending his deputies instead.
Facebook Data Breach – what happened?
Here's what you need to know...
- A personality quiz app obtained data for 270,000 willing Facebook users
- But it also sucked up info on all of their Facebook friends
- That meant the app caught data for around 50-60 million users
- This data was reportedly sold on to UK research firm Cambridge Analytica
- Cambridge Analytica helps politicians and lobby groups create propaganda
- The data was supposedly used to boost the Brexit campaign and get Trump into the White House
- Facebook is said to have known about the data breach since 2015
- The social network asked companies with the data to delete it, but didn't enforce the rule
- The Guardian revealed the incident in an exposé thanks to Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie
- There are now serious questions about whether Facebook has broken laws by giving up this data
Playboy has struggled to adapt to Facebook's strict restrictions around nudity and sexual content.
The platform's guidelines may even have influenced the magazine's brief "no nudes" push, which saw it replace the smut with scantily-clad babes.
But Cooper reinstated naked pics as soon as he took the reins as chief creative office in 2017.
Confused by the Facebook breach? Check out our helpful guides...
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"For years, it has been difficult for Playboy to express our values on Facebook due to its strict content and policy guidelines," Playboy said in a separate .
"We have been faced with the only alternative being to alter Playboy's voice in order to meet Facebook's views of what is and is not appropriate on its platform."
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Notably, Playboy is still active on Instagram (which Facebook also owns).
Last year, the long-running adult mag lost its founder Hugh Hefner, who died at his famed Playboy mansion at the age of 91.
The self-styled godfather of the sexual revolution passed away from natural causes after decades transforming the original lads' mag into a £150million empire.
Have you joined the delete Facebook campaign? Or do you plan to stay on the social network? Let us know in the comments.
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