With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook has become one of the most popular ways for people around the world to connect and communicate. A key part of this communication happens through Facebook’s messaging platform, which allows users to send private messages to each other.
But what happens when a user deletes a message they’ve sent or received on Facebook? Is that message gone forever, or can it still be recovered? Let’s take a closer look at how deleted Facebook messages work.
Are Deleted Facebook Messages Removed From Your Account?
When you delete a message you’ve sent or received on Facebook, it is removed from your message inbox and conversation threads. As far as your account is concerned, that message no longer exists.
However, this does not necessarily mean the message is gone forever. Although it is deleted from your account, the message may still exist in other places, such as:
- The recipient’s inbox – If you delete a message you’ve sent, it will be removed from your sent box but will still appear in the recipient’s inbox.
- Facebook server logs – Deleted messages may persist in Facebook’s server logs and databases.
- The recipient’s email inbox – If the recipient has chat or message notifications enabled, the deleted message could still be in their email inbox.
So while deleting a message removes it from your account view, there are other places it may continue to exist.
Can You Recover a Deleted Facebook Message?
Since deleted Facebook messages are removed from your inbox and message threads, it is not possible to directly recover or access them from your account.
However, there are a couple of indirect ways a deleted message could potentially be recovered:
- If you deleted a message you sent, the recipient still has access to it in their inbox. They could take a screenshot or forward you the message.
- Facebook may be able to restore deleted messages from server logs, if requested by legal authorities or through a valid subpoena.
But ordinary Facebook users do not have a self-service way to recover deleted messages through Facebook itself once they have been removed from their inbox.
When Are Deleted Facebook Messages Permanently Deleted?
Although deleted Facebook messages are removed from user accounts, they may continue to exist in Facebook’s database and server logs. So when are they permanently deleted?
According to Facebook, when a message is deleted by a user, it may continue to be stored by Facebook for up to 90 days. This gives them time to analyze engagement with the message, spam detection, and metrics gathering.
After that initial 90 day period, Facebook claims they permanently delete the message content from their servers. They keep some metadata like date timestamps and sender/recipient IDs for longer periods, but not the actual message content.
So in practical terms, any message you delete will be unavailable for recovery after about 90 days, based on Facebook’s policies.
Does Deleting Facebook Messages Delete Them From Messenger?
Facebook Messenger is closely integrated with Facebook’s main messaging platform. So if you delete a message thread on Facebook, it will also be deleted from Messenger on your mobile device and vice versa.
The same general rules apply – deleting a message thread removes it from your view in Messenger, but the recipient may still have access to it on their devices. And the content may continue to reside on Facebook’s servers for some time after deletion.
Bottom line: Deleting messages in Messenger works the same as deleting on Facebook.com – removing content from your view but not necessarily deleting it forever from other locations.
Can Facebook Admins or Employees Access Deleted Messages?
Since deleted messages may continue to reside on Facebook’s servers for up to 90 days, it is possible for Facebook employees or admins to access message content during that retention period, if they have reason to.
Facebook’s data policy states that employees may access user data for the following reasons:
- Troubleshooting technical issues and bugs
- Investigating suspicious activity or violations of Facebook’s terms
- Based on valid legal requests from authorities
In most cases, employees cannot access user data without proper authorization and justification. But it’s important to remember that “deleted” Facebook messages may not immediately be purged from all Facebook systems. Employees with specialized access could recover message data before it is permanently deleted.
Can Law Enforcement Access Deleted Facebook Messages?
As mentioned above, Facebook may provide deleted message data to law enforcement agencies or legal authorities, if compelled by a valid subpoena or warrant.
Facebook’s Government Requests Report states that they will disclose user information to law enforcement if they have “a good faith reason to believe that the matter involves imminent risk of serious physical injury or death.”
In the United States, technology companies like Facebook may be required to provide user data under the Stored Communications Act. In certain cases, this can include access to deleted messages for an investigation.
Facebook notes that such requests are carefully scrutinized for validity – but the possibility exists for deleted data to be obtained by law enforcement within that 90 day retention window, given proper legal procedures.
Tips for Permanently Deleting Facebook Messages
Given that deleted Facebook messages may still exist in various places, here are some tips if you want to minimize the recoverability of message data:
- Delete messages from your inbox immediately after reading them. The fewer places a message exists, the better.
- Ask the recipient to also delete the message from their account after reading.
- Avoid sending sensitive information over Facebook messaging that you might later regret.
- Be aware that legal authorities may be able to access deleted data with proper procedures.
- Consider using end-to-end encrypted messaging apps for truly private conversations.
While these tips can help, ultimately there is no foolproof way to guarantee immediate and permanent deletion of Facebook messages across all systems and recipients.
Conclusion
Deleted Facebook messages are removed from your inbox and account view, but may still persist in other places like recipient accounts, Facebook’s servers, and external inboxes. Complete deletion happens gradually over about 90 days as data is purged from Facebook’s systems.
While ordinary users can’t recover deleted messages themselves, Facebook employees, law enforcement, and recipients may still be able to access message content before it is permanently purged. So sensitive information sent via Facebook messaging should be considered at risk for recovery.
For the most private conversations, users should look beyond Facebook messaging to encrypted messaging apps. And for anything you want to keep truly deleted forever, it’s safest not to send it over Facebook messaging at all.