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How Facebook handles account deletions
- asfhakjfhakjfh1 9y agoTLDR: There is a deactivation option, and a deletion option. It shows some screenshots.
- taurath 9y agoBiggest problem to me is if you are a login with facebook user (or were ages ago), which is highly likely since many websites pushed it hard at the time, some like spotify requiring it. If you log back into spotify while its still deleting, even to move your account to a regular spotify account, it permanently reactivates your facebook account. You have to do all the cleanup, app deletion, etc beforehand.
- khuknows 9y agoThis is my biggest issue too. It's the main reason why I haven't deleted my main account yet.
- craftyguy 9y agoSo don't use services like spotify that 'require' an account until >90 days? IMHO, it's worth having to 'suffer' for 90 days.
- Slansitartop 9y agoYou can migrate all your Spotify stuff to a new, non-Facebook-linked account. I just did yesterday, and it wasn't that hard.
- mehrdadn 9y agoYou an migrate Spotify out of the login-with-Facebook thing. Make a new account (or I think they can do that for you too) and then ask them to migrate your stuff to the new account. They migrate most things including your followers but not followees [word?].
- Just_Smith 9y agoI believe what they meant is that you have to "Login with Facebook"and migrating your account before deactivating Facebook, not that they didn't know how to migrate Spotify. I deactivated my Facebook before, and I had to go through each individual app and either migrate the account to a native login or completely revoke access from the app, if I didn't want them to undo the deactivation when I logged in later, Spotify included. I feel like they should put some sort of separation between the "Login with Facebook" feature and the Facebook app itself, so that logging in personally reactivates the account but logging in via an app simply verifies the credentials.
- mehrdadn 9y agoHuh, do they not allow migrating while the Facebook account is deactivated? Didn't realize that.
- cortesoft 9y agoNo, they allow migrating, but doing so will cause facebook to reactivate your account. Basically, using any 'login with facebook' service after deactivating your facebook account will reactivate you.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- simlevesque 9y agoChange your password to something else beforehand and this won't happen.
- jventura 9y agoIf you delete your facebook account and had your spotify account associated with facebook, now you cannot login into spotify anymore with your email account. It happened to me, it's a very stupid thing, and as it seems, they (spotify) can't or wont do anyting about it..
- tlb 9y agoI deleted my fb account, and was able to recover my spotify account with the 'forgot password' mechanism.
- fintler 9y ago> and was able to recover my spotify account with the 'forgot password' mechanism If you signed up for Spotify using Facebook, this doesn't work.
- wincy 9y agoKickstarter is the same way. I had merely deactivated so it reactivated, and I had to switch to a local profile then redo the deactivation process.
- JoshMnem 9y ago> some like spotify requiring it. That's why I never used spotify.
- FractalLP 9y agoMe 2
- rspeer 9y agoI use Spotify and never connected it to Facebook. It's not actually required. They just make the "social" features of Spotify super hard to use if you don't connect to Facebook, which... doesn't matter.
- JoshMnem 9y agoI think it was required a few years ago. It isn't required now, but I'm not interested any more.
- wincy 9y agoI’ve noticed that any online game these days (Fortnite, PUBG, as examples) either want you to link your Facebook account. With some that seems to be the only way to not have a guest account.
- 7granddad 9y agoThanks for this post. I thought I deleted my Facebook four years ago only to read this and find out it still existed. IIRC back then it said something about deletion after a set period of inactivity.
- rhacker 9y agoEven though this user says he couldn't find the link to delete your account, it is on two of his screen shots with the label "Request account deletion" Edit: I guess the text above makes this link confusing. Go FB.
- BlueGh0st 9y agoHonestly can't take the author seriously if they can't even read. Good reminder that having a blog doesn't make you a journalist.
- talmand 9y agoMaybe the confusion is based around the text above the link that seems to be describing what you would like to happen after you die?
- eknkc 9y agoI think that link applies to what happens when you die, as all the text above it describes.
- rhacker 9y agoYeah I think you might be correct - I don't have a FB account so I couldn't test it, but it was strange the author didn't mention this. at least. I guess I retract my note.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- anotheryou 9y agoFun fact I experienced: if you get banned for anything, there is absolutely no way to delete your account. (It was a test account at a time I didn't even have a personal account yet. I uploaded very mild nudity¹ as a profile pic and had a friend flag me on purpose) ¹ http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/paintings/20c/item-242744.aspx http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/painti... (slightly NSFW)
- rhacker 9y agoThis is true and also illegal and against Facebook's TOS - they state regardless of any of that you can control your data. I've been complaining about FB for years and maybe its time they will start listening. Instead I write long emails that will have a guaranteed response in 24 hours and there is NEVER A RESPONSE.
- phyzome 9y agoAny chance you're an EU citizen? Maybe once GDPR goes into effect you can lodge a complaint.
- anotheryou 9y agoExisting EU law already covers this. But I used a fake name anyways, so I probably have no chance
- indemnity 9y agoInteresting, my account got disabled a few months ago and radio silence from them on why or what (appeals process seems a black hole). In light of recent activities I’d like them to delete all data they have on me but since I’m not an EU citizen unfortunately I don’t have the GDPR to force them to do so.
- vertis 9y agoHow are they to know you're not a EU citizen. Even if you weren't, you could be now.
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- dgritsko 9y agoThis is pretty clever marketing by Page Flows. I made it all the way to the end before I realized I was being sold something.
- cryptoz 9y agoYeah. The authors don't want you to delete your facebook. They want you to share their article on your facebook (it's right there at the top of the page!). The people/person who wrote the article seem desperate for you to not follow the directions. They want you to go to Facebook and starting sharing and liking content right away. They just want your money.
- notananthem 9y agoAlways wondered if its worth trying to delete all your data before deleting your facebook- or if deleting both does the same thing. They're supposed to delete data in 30 days but in the 2012-2013 days people proved the links to content were still up and photos/etc were all up.
- just_steve_h 9y agoThere's also no mention in the article about what Facebook does with all of the data you've surrendered to them while using the platform. Do they actually remove your history of likes and your node in the social graph? I'm very doubtful they voluntarily delete your data.
- beedrillzzzzz 9y agoIn addition to this, do they delete Messenger data, including group chat messages? Facebook needs to clarify what actually happens to data.
- manmal 9y agoThey have the problem right now that nobody will believe what they say. I certainly won’t.
- woweeeee 9y agoThey likely never delete anything. They simply transform you back into a "shadow profile" and keep monetizing everything they know, but conceal the data from you and the rest of the public. I believe they always retain all data forever, as a trade secret. They don't need no stinking laws to do that. This is a component of not requiring users to pay for premium service. When you "create an account" you're simply "activating/linking/merging" one of your shadow profiles to your IRL identity (or not-so-IRL personas), which (possibly) has always existed (long before you showed up), claiming it as yours, and publicly exposing whatever Facebook is willing to show you that they know about you/that persona/whoever.
- JoshMnem 9y ago> "Your friends will miss you!" The company seems to have a strong culture of gaslighting and manipulating users. When I saw that screen, there were people there that definitely wouldn't miss me and who would probably be appalled that their identities were being used in that way. When other people quit Facebook, it's likely that your photo is being presented to other users (who you may not really know) telling them that you will miss them. It's terrible.
- r00fus 9y agoIt's par for the course for FB. "Soandso is waiting for your message" - psychological manipulation at it's finest.
- JoshMnem 9y agoThe company is rotten to its foundations. Even the core mission is a terrible idea. Connecting all the world's people already exists -- it's called the WWW. Every time Facebook, the company, communicated with me, I felt like I was dealing with a manipulative gaslighter. I'm glad that it is no longer a part of my life.
- jedrek 9y agoIt's called the telephone.
- rspeer 9y agoThis is just being atavistic for no reason. The telephone system is a horrible UX. I hardly ever use Facebook, but I'm definitely not replacing it with the telephone.
- jedrek 9y agoThe device that connected the world is called the telephone, it's revolutionary force makes the WWW look like a fart in a storm.
- nosuchthing 9y agoFacebook's offline archives never get deleted. http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyimages/1390.jpg http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyimages/1390.jpg
- harryf 9y agoMy experience of deleting my Facebook account back in 2009 (and reading this the process hasn't changed) is once I finally deleted it, it was stolen by someone else within a few weeks (I'm guessing automated / bots trying to steal identities). I have a very unique name which, as far as I'm aware, is the only one in the world. What caused me to notice was friends still on Facebook who were getting this fake profile recommended as a possible connection. Facebook ignored requests I made (submitted without having an account) that the profile was fake. I also had friends report the account for me but it still exists today - this is the fake account https://m.facebook.com/harry.fuecks https://m.facebook.com/harry.fuecks - thats not my picture. So beware - it may be more pragmatic just to deactivate your account than delete. That means Facebook gets to keep your data but at least you don't risk identify theft. Ultimately think it's going to take regulation to solve this problem in general - it's not in Facebooks interest to make account deletion painless.
- fiftyacorn 9y agoI think there is a browser plugin to recursively delete all your info - then leave account as inactive
- manmal 9y agoI’ve been wondering: Does FB really delete data, or do they not somehow keep it and just flag it as deleted? So they are able to use it for analytics and keep my ad profile sharp.. I hope GDPR will shed some light on this, I guess they will not take the risk going forward.
- thelittleone 9y agoThat's a good strategy. I searched for the plugin you mentioned and found activityremover, however apparently it no longer works.
- abhishekjha 9y agoWhat's the plugin's name?
- subway 9y agoThe mobile site makes this way, way, way easier. You literally just have to enter your password and the deed is done: https://m.facebook.com/account/delete https://m.facebook.com/account/delete I just reactivated my deactivated account to delete it.
- wwayer 9y agoJust tried it and it worked great.
- dade_ 9y agoThat is exactly the process I went through a few years ago and the manipulative messaging assured me that I was making the correct decision to get as far away from FB as possible. Dr. Robert B. Cialdini, closed off Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion with the following paragraph about organizations that manipulate us and I completely believe Facebook is one of these organizations: "I don’t consider myself pugnacious by nature, but I actively advocate such belligerent actions because in a way I am at war with the exploiters—we all are. It is important to recognize, however, that their motive for profit is not the cause for hostilities; that motive, after all, is something we each share to an extent. The real treachery, and the thing we cannot tolerate, is any attempt to make their profit in a way that threatens the reliability of our shortcuts. The blitz of modern daily life demands that we have faithful shortcuts, sound rules of thumb to handle it all. These are not luxuries any longer; they are out-and-out necessities that figure to become increasingly vital as the pulse of daily life quickens. That is why we should want to retaliate whenever we see someone betraying one of our rules of thumb for profit. We want that rule to be as effective as possible. But to the degree that its fitness for duty is regularly undercut by the tricks of a profiteer, we naturally will use it less and will be less able to cope efficiently with the decisional burdens of our day. We cannot allow that without a fight. The stakes have gotten too high."
- mercer 9y agoThank you for that quote. The book has been high on my to-read list for a while now and this is a good motivation get started on it.
- Wazzymandias 9y agoDeletion can also be a little misleading. I deleted (not deactivated) a Facebook account that I had from high school to sophomore year of college. A year or two later I made a new one and didn't fill out anything except my name and didn't add any friends (yet). Almost immediately facebook started suggesting friends, groups, etc that existed on my deleted account. tl;dr nothing is every really "deleted," just hidden
- givinguflac 9y agoI went so far as to edit all comments give blank, remove all likes and untag all images before deleting. This was years ago, but I’m glad others are seeing the same issues and reacting appropriately.
- makkesk8 9y agoI would imagine if what happened to facebook happened to google, it would be 100 times worse. So when do we tackle google?
- Waterluvian 9y agoWhen I quit WoW years ago it was the same thing. "You're making the peon cry!"
- Waterluvian 9y agoHow do I know if my account is deleted? I did it years ago but every few months I get a suspect email about, "looks like you're having trouble logging in. Let us help you get back on Facebook." Which makes me think it's not actually deleted.
- mrlyc 9y agoI deleted Facebook before it was cool. They wouldn't stop sending me "Won't you please come back" emails until I made a formal complaint about the spam to the Australian Communications and Media Authority. No more emails. I was on there just a few days ago to find out what my elderly aunts were up to. Crickets. They hadn't posted anything for three years.
- cronix 9y agoDoes anyone think these services actually delete all of your data, or just use a "deleted" flag on the database, keeping all of your info making it look like you're "deleted" but not allowing you to use it any longer? My vote is the 2nd one.
- jzl 9y agoWow, I had no idea there a buried option like that to really delete it. Several years ago I read an article about how savvy teenagers and college students were calling account deactivation "Super Logout", since it was well known that deactivation was non-binding and immediately reversible at any time. If you were going to be away from your phone or computer for anything more than a few hours you would Super Logout and not have to worry about potentially embarrassing wall posts, tagged photos, tagged comments, unwelcome messages, etc.. It was all about having full control of who interacts with your account and when. I thought it was quite brilliant and I totally get why you would want to do that in the fast-paced social world of a teenager. Ever since I read that I've always laughed at people saying "I'm going to delete my account", thinking they were really deleting it. (I bet no more than a fraction, if any, ever dug up the full deletion option.) People think they are "deleting" their account while kids are literally using "deletion" as an advanced feature of the platform.
- anonytrary 9y agoI don't think Facebook is being ethical by making people wait to delete their account. Thought experiment: Suppose John owns a room. John's room is occupied at full capacity, 24/7. People mingle in the room, sometimes they trade with each other. Assume John is never present in the room at any time. John decides to install a camera and microphone in the room. John analyzes the data in order help increase the quantity of trades in the room, through which John makes a considerable commission. Later, someone asks him to delete the data he has on them. John says he will only delete the data after 90 days, and if the person takes a step in the room within 14 days, they will not have their data deleted. Is John's behavior ethical?
- danso 9y agoSo why are John's friends using the living room so frequently yet without having any contact with him? Maybe you find that question to be pedantic given the bigger picture you're ostensibly addressing. But trying to imagine the answers would make it obvious why your hypothetical situation doesn't really apply to reality. For starters, your scenario involves a surveillance camera, but in the next sentence, you ask us to imagine that the friends haven't given any permission. Permission for what exactly?
- anonytrary 9y ago> So why are John's friends using the living room so frequently yet without having any contact with him? Good question. I rent out a house with 100% capacity, and I haven't set foot in the house in the past year at all. It's managed remotely by me. There are living areas where people can hang out. This is also what John does. > you ask us to imagine that the friends haven't given any permission. Permission for what exactly? I have edited that part out and made things more concise, thanks for catching that. John records his living room and uses the data in order to sell products to the people who happen to be there. Later, people found out and have politely asked him to delete any video and audio involving them. Side note: I feel John's implementation isn't important here, so I've intentionally left it out. Perhaps he earns a profit by having buyers and sellers meet, serendipitously, in his living room. For example, he may learn that Alice is a laptop seller and Bob is a laptop buyer. Assume John can influence the traffic in his living room for the sake of the gedanken.
- future31 9y agoThis is just the beginning, next #deletegoogle
- murphysbooks 9y agoThanks for the post! I just deleted my FB account, and I am a little less of a product (today).