The message appeared on GM's page on Facebook

General Motors (GM) has been subjected to a stinging attack on Facebook by someone claiming to be the daughter of its recently-departed boss.

An expletive-laden message, posted under the name Sarah Henderson, said Fritz Henderson did not resign as chief executive but was "asked to step down".

It goes on to criticise acting boss Ed Whitacre as "selfish", who "cares about himself" and not the company.

The post has since been removed. GM declined to make any comment on it.

On Tuesday, GM announced that Mr Henderson, who was appointed as chief executive by the government in March, had resigned.

GM chairman Ed Whitacre is currently acting as an interim replacement until a permanent one can be found.

The message was posted on GM's page on Facebook within minutes of the announcement.

It was removed by GM, but not before it was picked up by car industry blog Jalopnik.com, which copied the page and reposted it on its own site.

"We consider children of GM employees to be private citizens," GM said in a statement.

"We do not believe a brief Facebook post by a child who had no actual knowledge of critical business issues, and which was removed almost immediately, moves a person from 'private' to 'public' status, and makes her a legitimate source for a major global business story."