It would be easy for me to stop using FaceBook – I can’t remember the last time that I looked at it, let alone posted anything (probably in 2020 when Supermarket had a greater online presence due to the Covid pandemic). Messenger would also be easy to give up. Instagram and WhatsApp are trickier though.
The issue has come up due to the recent ’opening up’ of ’free speech’ across the Meta brand platforms, allowing users to share “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation.” I find this abhorrent, and wish neither to condone this behaviour nor furnish such an organisation, or should I say corporation, with my content. In whatever small way Meta make money from me – because that’s what they do – and not matter how small that amount, I have to ask why would I want to financially support anything that is quite okay for me to called mentally ill and abnormal. Why should I pay to make myself open for abuse – to do so is truly perverse.
I wrote those paragraphs a week ago. Then on Friday evening I decided to post the image below on both my professional and private Instagram accounts.
As soon as I had done it I felt an almost overwhelming sense of relief. It felt good to state my motivation and action. It felt good to take the decision.
