A prominent pub chain in the U.K. shut down its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, saying that people are spending too much time on social media.

Tim Martin, the chair of JD Wetherspoon, said that people could not control their urges to spend time on social networks.

"It's becoming increasingly obvious that people spend too much time on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and struggle to control the compulsion," Martin said in a statement emailed to CNBC.

The company has shut down its head office social accounts, as well as those for each of its 900 pubs.

It says that bad publicity surrounding social media, such as the trolling of politicians and people from ethnic minorities, influenced its decision to delete its accounts.

"The move also takes account of recent concerns regarding the misuse of personal data and the addictive nature of social media," the company said in an emailed statement, likely referring to Facebook's data scandal that saw information from some 87 million profiles harvested by consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

JD Wetherspoon had more than 100,000 followers on Facebook and 44,000 on Twitter. Competitor Sizzling Pubs (owned by Mitchells and Butlers) has a similar number of Facebook fans but fewer outlets at around 220.