Singer says she’s deleting Facebook profile
TORONTO — Singer Loreena McKennitt says she’s shutting down her Facebook profile over concerns for her fans’ privacy.
The Manitoba-born performer, known for her 1997 hit The Mummers’ Dance, told her 547,000 Facebook followers that she will close the fan page on June 1.
The decision comes after McKennitt, who is a member of the Order of Canada, began researching the details behind data exchange between Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.
She wasn’t satisfied with the social media platform’s response after learning how private information was being used.
“As a business owner and a citizen I became very concerned that Facebook was offside,” she said.
“I didn’t want to be abetting or be complicit to the activity.”
McKennitt said the situation brought back memories of her own experiences with breach of privacy about a decade ago.
A former friend published a book with details of her life, including passages about her relationship with her fiancé, who died in a boating accident.
The landmark U.K. court case was ruled in her favour and set a precedent for “right to privacy.”
“I felt like I couldn’t have come through the privacy case that I [was involved in],” she said, “and yet allow my own business to continue and be part of an ongoing infrastructure that I knew was not as strong or as accountable as it needed to be.”
McKennitt, who releases a new studio album next month, added that she doesn’t accept suggestions from some people who say it’s too late to close Facebook accounts.