Neil Young’s official archives site is getting rid of the ability for fans to log in using their Facebook or Google accounts. Instead, they’ll be asked to register their email address and a password to access the site.
In an article explaining the decision, Young – who’s been a prominent voice in the run-up to this year’s US presidential election – gave Facebook a pasting.
“Facebook knowingly allows untruths and lies in its political ads to circulate on the platform, while bots sow discord among users. Sowing dissent and chaos in our country via political disinformation is something we can not condone. Simply put, Facebook is screwing with our election,” he wrote.
“The money we are spending to get out of this mess is designed to make it as easy as possible for our valued Facebook users to log in simply and securely to NYA without the social media platform involved in any way.”
What’s that about money? Oh yes: “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.”
Ouch. Young deleted his public Facebook account late last year, but he’s been building his community on the Neil Young Archives website, which had 25,000 subscribers by October 2019.
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