Neil Young hasn’t been shy about his distaste for Facebook, and now he’s spent tens of thousands of dollars to move the Neil Young Archives away from the social media site entirely. Young personally quit Facebook last November, citing the company’s lack of fact-checking and sponsorship of The Federalist’s annual gala. While he’s far from the only celebrity to step away from social media or discuss its failings, he’s got to be one of the most concise critics of the site.
Neil Young Says Goodbye For Good To Facebook
“I don’t feel that a social site should be making obvious commitments to one side of politics or the other,” Young wrote on his site in November. “It further confuses readers regarding truthfulness in coverage and message. NYA, no long interested in further links with Facebook, will be discontinuing use.” Now, months later, the process of moving his archives off of the social media site is complete, and it wasn’t a cheap process.
“Trying to disengage from the corrupt social platform is a costly and time-consuming process for NYA,” said an email from the archives. “Our cost will be almost $20,000 to disengage, while treating our subscribers with respect, making it as easy as possible for them to continue with us after Facebook.” In addition to informing fans that they’ll be able to access the archives directly through the NYA site, the notice included a few more call-outs.
“Facebook knowingly allows untruths and lies in its political ads to circulate on the platform, while bots sow discord among users,” it read. “Sowing dissent and chaos in our country via political disinformation is something we can not condone. Simply put, Facebook is screwing with our election.” Young closed off the email by reminding fans that he wants to have “a place where music lovers can get all of my music at its highest quality, while keeping up on news and views from around the world that we wish to share” that would be free of any Facebook involvement. The “Harvest Moon” singer seems to have accomplished that goal with the impressive move.