‘Callous’ Facebook shuts down young violinist’s charity page
12 February 2015, 12:48 | Updated: 12 February 2015, 14:09
The social media giant has shut down a page that has helped raise £30,000 for charity saying the young violinist behind it is too young to have an account.
Madison Glinksi, aged ten, from St Ives, Cornwall has been playing the violin since the age of four and started busking last Easter in her home town and the Cornish city of Truro to raise money for Little Harbour Children’s Hospice South West.
To date, she’s raised more than £34,000, but now Facebook has closed down her page saying she’s too young to have an account. Facebook’s rules say users have to be at least 13.
The videos and photos posted on the page have now been lost.
The Facebook page was set up by Madison’s mother, who added Madison as an administrator to give it a “personal touch”.
Madison said: “My mum just wanted to save the photos and the memories. She wanted to be the administrator, which would only take ten minutes. But Facebook just decided to close down my page – which was terrible really and I was devastated.”
Madison has now set up a new website so she can carry on fund-raising. She hopes to have raised a total of £50,000 by the end of this year.
Madison’s mother said: “I agree with the rules but everything has been lost – her diary, videos and messages from followers – and Facebook have told me it is irretrievable. They were just completely callous.”
In a statement, Facebook said: “When an account with someone under 13 is reported to us, in accordance to our rules, we remove the account.”
Photo: APEX
