Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Deleting your Facebook Account requires some preparation, and then a fairly well hidden link. I'll outline the preparation and point you to the link.
What is the safest way to deactivate and completely eliminate my Facebook account?
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A lot of people are concerned about Facebook' privacy policy changes, and as a result are seriously considering deleting their Facebook account.
I'll walk you through some simple steps to do it, but also point out a couple of issues that make it very easy for the deletion not to happen.
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I have to start by quoting Chris Pirillo's two step plan for internet privacy:
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Don't share s**t you don't want the world to see
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Repeat step 1
While that's clearly Chris's attempt to shock you into paying attention to the issue, he has a point. If you don't want something to potentially become public, don't share it online. Period. It's very simple, and completely insulates you from the privacy policies of various organizations, as well as unexpected changes to those policies over time. What's private today might not be private tomorrow.
Deactivation
Note that "Deactivation" is not the same as "Deletion". Deactivation "turns off" your account, but does not remove your data. You can still be tagged in photos, and much of your information may still be visible, either publicly or to other Facebook members.
The idea behind deactivation is that someday you'll come back and want all your old stuff to be restored.
Naturally, deactivation is what Facebook typically points you at.
If you're serious and want a solution that says "I'm not coming back", you want to delete your Facebook account.
How To Delete Your Facebook Account
Start by deleting all the ties you've created to your Facebook account from outside of Facebook.
If you've allowed other sites to use Facebook Connect to log you in, that has to be disabled - a single login to one of those account may disable your eventual account deletion. Go to those sites and change how you login before you try to delete your Facebook account.
Are you using a Facebook application on your mobile phone? Delete it first, from all your devices.
Using a Facebook add-in in an instant messaging program? Remove it first, from all your computers.
As we'll see in a moment, any of those outside connections to Facebook could cause your account deletion to be canceled.
Deleting Your Account
Go to this link:
http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account
Follow the instructions there.
DON'T LOGIN TO YOUR ACCOUNT FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS. I'd wait longer. I can't stress the importance of this enough. If you login within two weeks you will cancel the account deletion. If any of those external Facebook applications logs in again, I believe you also risk cancelling your account deletion.
After 14 days the deletion is permanent. If you change your mind and want a Facebook account again you'll need to create a new one.
What am I doing?
I'm keeping my Facebook account.
But then, I also don't share ... uh ... "stuff" ... that I don't want the world to see. Even if I post something "privately" today, I'm very aware that particularly on Facebook this privacy could be an illusion. Someday it's very possible that they could change their terms of service again to make my formerly private information public.
Is that evil? Absolutely. And clearly Facebook has a reputation for doing exactly that.
But I don't control Facebook. The only control I have is over what I do and what I choose to share. That means that right or wrong the only way to protect myself, and my privacy, is to not share stuff I don't want the world to see.
Assume anything you post on Facebook - even the "private" stuff - will someday be public, and act accordingly.
And for some, "act accordingly" may mean leaving Facebook.
While I personally don't see the need and would simply counsel being aware of and restricting what you post, I can certainly understand if deleting your Facebook account is the solution you choose.
Article C4322 - May 23, 2010
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
You may also be interested in:
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Ask Leo! page on Facebook Discussion group, automatic notification of new articles, and a few random things you'll only get there. (If you keep your Facebook account, that is
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Where do Facebook friend suggestions come from? Facebook invitations often include suggestions of other people you might know. I'll look at where they might come from, and whether there's a concern.
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What's your social media strategy? I use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn - and I actually have a little bit of a plan around how I use each.
thank you for this!
Posted by: justin at December 29, 2011 12:37 PMI occasionally wonder about such situations and similar such as when one is told that "all the information about you has been removed".
What about all the earlier Backups?
In my working career on computers, we backed up the computers at the end of each working day, on an incremental basis.
These tapes were re-used on the same day of the following week.
At the end of each month (apart grom the "Final Month" below", we did a Full Backup, the tapes being re-used in the same month of the following year.
At the end of the Final Month each year, we did a Full Backup.
In the 15 years of doing so, NONE of those YEARLY Backup Tapes were re-used, as some contracts required the data to be retained for 20 years from generally the agreed Delivery/Handover Date of the project.
Thus such information theoretically could be available for around 25 years after it had apparently been deleted from the "present-day" working files.
I don't know the situation with Facebook and similar operations - BUT it does make me wary of what I do post on the internet, on all types of system.
Regarding my local Hard Disks, I remove them from the PC being discarded, keeping those HDDs at home, as being relatively safer than any re-formatting.
Posted by: Alex Dow at January 13, 2012 9:00 AMAn overall way to delete any account is to simply violate their rules. It's somewhat crude and crass, but it works. Community rules, TOC, minor copyright issues [and repeated many times], are good for quick results. This may require you to post real naughty photos, or use foul words. But I've seen it used several times, and works quickly and effectively. If you can live with short-term shame, you will be deleted. Bet on it.
Posted by: GREG JACKSON at January 13, 2012 12:39 PMI never thought you could delete your Facebook account until a friend told me how. Thanks, Leo, for sharing this info. It's been over 2 months now and I still get emails from FB reminding me that so & so wants to be a friend. They really hate it when you leave them and I hated the way they hid the info on how to delete an account vs deactivating it. AND, the reason I did delete my account was because they changed my privacy settings twice and that angered me beyond belief. Plus, I hear they are using "face recognition" software and although I have nothing to hide, I think that is beyond intrusive. I don't trust that site for anything.
Posted by: Vicki at January 13, 2012 8:47 PMTo all of you reading this article: please remember, deleting your account only removes public access to it, all the data remains on their servers for at least 2 years and can be accessed by everybody with which FB has an contract for data sharing, and the government. And by data i mean absolutely everything you have put or done in your account. Nothing is actually deleted.
Posted by: Gigi Duru at January 21, 2012 1:21 AM