Shouldn't a Medium have seen this coming?
Patricia Arquette is deactivating her Facebook account at the advice of her security team. The reason? The 43-year-old accepted friend requests from strangers as part of a "social experiment."
"Could a celebrity actually friend strangers and get to know them as a person?" she wondered in a Wednesday Facebook post. "Could you really become friends? Could you move past all that they had in their mind about you and actually show them the real you?"
Though Arquette did manage to forge a few new friendships, "that all changed" 10 days ago when she was harassed by a stranger.
"I ask you not to friend anyone here that you don't personally know," she warned her 2,936 friends. "This is important! Just because they were on this page doesn't really mean they are safe! I'm going to say it again because it is important — it doesn't mean they are safe!"
Arquette did provide any additional details regarding the virtual harassment. She did, however, promise to keep in touch with her friends via Twitter and thanked them for sharing their "love, humor and sadness with me."
