I get asked this question weekly. Sometimes several times a week. I don’t mind responding every time. Let me show you what one of those responses looks like.

There was a time I was on Facebook. Multiple times per day. I engaged, I read, I responded. I promoted.

Then several things happened.

My brother was harassed by a former family member just after our Dad passed away. He stepped away for quite a period of time. I stayed on, but I started to question how well Facebook policed harassing posts and hateful messages. I should have deleted my account right there and then.

A couple of years later, Facebook locked me out of my account because they didn’t believe my name change. So much so, that they required me to send a copy of my identification to confirm who I was. So I sent them a copy of my driver’s license with certain information redacted. They were holding my content, user info and data hostage.

This prompted me to read more. Part of that reading involved stories of potential abuse of data in what would eventually blow up as the Cambridge Analytica scandal. There were court cases filed against Facebook in multiple jurisdictions related to their terms of service. There were course cases filed about using content to assist with generating advertisements. Those very advertisements have generated billions in profits for them.

It was not long after much reading that I left completely and took a copy of my data with it.

I’m aware that Facebook remains the most popular social media platform. Yes I could sell more books with it. I could potentially land significant writing work as a result of having a presence and profile on Facebook. With respect to animal rights activism, the possibilities of outreach are endless. I choose my principles over the potential of powerful outreach.

Facebook has proven to be a company not to be trusted, with a platform that I refuse to engage with.

You can find me on Twitter @WriterDann and subscribe to my website. Thank you so much for reading, for writing, and for buying my work.

Dann Alexander