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Despite a global furor over the harvesting of personal
information from Facebook accounts, few companies have cut
themselves off from an industry that many view as vital to
reaching customers.
Wetherspoon, whose chairman and founder Tim Martin is also a
vocal champion of Britain leaving the European Union, said it
was closing Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for its
head office and almost 900 pubs in Britain and Ireland.
"It's becoming increasingly obvious that people spend too much
time on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and struggle to control
the compulsion," Martin said in a statement .
"I don’t believe that closing these accounts will affect our
business whatsoever, and this is the overwhelming view of our
pub managers," he added.
Social media platforms have come under mounting criticism
following news that millions of users' personal information was
gathered from Facebook by Cambridge Analytica, a political
consultancy that has counted U.S. President Donald Trump's
election campaign among its clients.
The industry has also come under fire for not doing enough to
curb hate speech or take down malicious content.
Last year, Wetherspoon was forced to issue a denial after a
spoof Twitter account falsely claimed the company was not
allowing staff to wear poppies at work to commemorate fallen
service men and women.
(Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter)
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