If there’s one thing that can be said for Neil Young over the course of his nearly 60-year career, it’s that he stands behind his principles. He once spent hundreds of thousands of dollars recalling an album because he didn’t like the mix (which he’d earlier approved), and just last month he sued Donald Trump’s re-election campaign for continuing to play his songs without permission.
Now, he says he’s spending $20,000 to eliminate Facebook and Google logins to his Archives website because of policies regarding the forthcoming presidential election.
“Facebook knowingly allows untruths and lies in its political ads to circulate on the platform, while bots sow discord among users,” the announcement reads in part. “Sowing dissent and chaos in our country via political disinformation is something we cannot condone. Simply put, Facebook is screwing with our election.” His issues with Google are not addressed in the announcement.
It is unclear why that process costs $20,000, or why he is disabling Google logins when the issues stated in the announcement are with Facebook; a rep for Young did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for clarification.
In an announcement from his Neil Young Archives site reads in part:
Hello NYA Member—
We’re reaching out because Neil Young Archives is about to begin the process of eliminating Facebook and Google logins from our website. (If you want to read about why, we have included Neil’s article from the NYATC at the bottom of this email.)
If you use Facebook or Google for login, we are going to ask you to run through a quick process the next time you log in—it’s just a few extra clicks. At the end of the process, your account will be transitioned to use your email address and a password for login. Goodbye Facebook and Google buttons.
We thank you immensely for bearing with us through this process. We know it’s not convenient, but we believe we will be better for it. ‘Quality whether you want it or not!’”
The article in question, which is accompanied by the image above, reads:
NYA DAYS AWAY FROM DROPPING SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
We have been working on this project for a couple of months. Trying to disengage from the corrupt social platform is a costly and time-consuming process for NYA. 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.
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 cannot condone. Simply put, Facebook is screwing with our election.
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. It is in keeping with what we have been maintaining re: the irresponsible social media platform for the past two years.
NYA strives to be a place where music lovers can get all of my music at its highest quality, while keeping up on news and views from around the world that we wish to share. We are primarily a music platform featuring all the background information, films, videos, and credits associated with each piece of music we present while offering unparalleled listening quality.
thanks for your support,
NYA
Dr. Roy Schestowitz (罗伊)
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