The companies and people unfriending Facebook

Playboy Enterprises said it is closing its Facebook pages as the scandal surrounding the social network grows. Playboy said the privacy scandal was the final straw after long having had difficulty posting to the site due to Facebook's strict rules to keep nudity off the platform. Some 25 million people interacted with Playboy's Facebook pages.

Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind electric car manufacturer Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX, wrote on Twitter he would delete both companies' Facebook accounts. The decision appeared to be spontaneous after Musk wrote he "didn't realize" a Facebook account for SpaceX even existed. The accounts of both companies each had around 2.6 million followers before they were deleted.

The company behind popular web browser Firefox said in a statement that it was "pressing pause" on its Facebook advertising. But it said it would not delete its Facebook account. Instead, the company would stop posting regular updates on the account. "When Facebook takes stronger action in how it shares customer data ... we'll consider returning," it said.

Commerzbank, one of Germany's largest banks, said it was pausing its Facebook advertising. The head of the company's brand management told German business newspaper "Handelsblatt:" "We're taking a break with our advertising on Facebook. Data protection and maintaining a good brand are important to us." He added that the company would wait and see before it made any further decisions.

The co-founder of messaging service WhatsApp, Brian Acton, wrote in a March 20 post on Twitter: "It is time. #deletefacebook." Acton became a billionaire after selling WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014. He recently invested in a rival messaging app, Signal, after leaving WhatsApp in 2017. Acton had a history with Facebook before 2014. He unsuccessfully interviewed for a job at the company in 2009.

The US-based speaker manufacturer said it was pulling its advertising from Facebook and other social media platforms, including Facebook-owned Instagram. Sonos said recent revelations "raised questions" about whether Facebook had done enough to safeguard user privacy. But it said it would not completely "abandon" Facebook because it was an "incredibly effective" service.

The German food corporation let its Twitter followers vote on whether it should delete its Facebook account. "We'll delete our Facebook page for 1,000 retweets," it wrote in a March 21 post. It was quickly retweeted over 1,000 times, leading the company to deactivate its Facebook page. But it reactivated the account a day later, writing on Twitter that it "couldn't be" without Facebook.

Asked about the decision of some companies to leave the social network, Facebook said: "Most of the businesses we've spoken with this week are pleased with the steps we've outlined to better protect people's data, and they have confidence that we'll respond to these challenges and become a better partner and company as a result."