The Short Answer
No, deleting your Facebook account does not remove everything. When you delete your account, Facebook removes things you’ve posted, like your photos and status updates. However, they may retain some information in backup copies for a certain period of time.
What Happens When You Delete Your Facebook Account?
When you decide to delete your Facebook account, it does not immediately disappear. Facebook goes through a process to remove your profile from their site. Here’s a quick rundown of what happens:
Your Profile is Disabled
The first step is your profile is disabled. This means your profile and all information is no longer visible to other people using Facebook. However, it still exists in Facebook’s database.
Facebook Begins Deleting Your Information
Over the next month, Facebook will begin permanently deleting all of your information from their servers. This includes posts, photos, videos, comments, likes and more.
Some Data May Remain
According to Facebook, it may take up to 90 days to complete the deletion process. In addition, some information may remain in backup copies for an unspecified amount of time.
This means that some of your data may still be stored on Facebook’s servers long after you delete your account. This can include data like log records or location information.
You Have a 30-Day Window to Reactivate
For the first 30 days after you initiate the deletion, you can still reactivate your account if you log back in. After those 30 days, your account can no longer be retrieved.
What Types of Data Does Facebook Delete?
When you delete your Facebook account, here are some of the types of data that Facebook says it removes:
Your Profile Information
This includes your name, bio, profile photo, cover photo, and any other personal information you have shared on your profile.
Your Posts and Activity
Any posts you’ve shared, including status updates, photos, videos, stories, links, comments, and likes will be deleted.
Your Messages
Any private messages you’ve sent or received through Facebook will be removed from their servers. However, copies may remain if the recipient downloaded your conversations.
Pages and Groups You Manage
If you are an admin for any Facebook pages or groups, these will be deleted along with your account. Other admins can nominate new admins for those communities.
Your Friends List and Followers
Your friends and followers will no longer be connected to your account. You will be removed from their friends lists.
Payment Information
Any payment information you’ve used on Facebook, such as for purchases or donations, will be erased.
What Data Does Facebook Keep?
While Facebook claims to delete the vast majority of your information when you close your account, they do retain some types of data. This includes:
Backup Copies
Facebook admits that some copies of your data may remain in their servers for an unspecified amount of time. This is likely for emergency backup and recovery purposes.
Transaction Records
Records of your transactions, like payments or donations you’ve made through Facebook, may be kept for financial reporting purposes.
Location Information
If you’ve enabled location services, Facebook may keep geographic data related to your account for a period of time.
Analytics Information
Facebook may retain anonymous analytics data about your account to improve their services. This includes things like usage statistics.
Law Enforcement Data
If requested by law enforcement, Facebook may retain data from accounts for an extended period. Typically, this would only happen in special cases.
How to Permanently Delete Facebook Data
If you want to ensure Facebook deletes as much of your data as possible when you delete your account, here are a few tips:
Remove Your Information Beforehand
Go through your Facebook account and delete or remove as much content as you can first before deleting your account. This includes posts, photos, videos, and other info you’ve shared.
Download Your Information
Facebook allows you to download a copy of your account data. You may want to do this before deleting your account to have a record.
Delete From Locations
Go to your Facebook account settings and remove any location data associated with your account. This makes it harder for them to retain geographic data.
Clear History and Cookies
Make sure to clear your browser history, cookies and cache after deleting your Facebook account. This severs the connection on your local devices.
Follow Up if Needed
If you are concerned Facebook still retains some of your info, you can reach out to them after your account is deleted and request permanent data removal.
What Happens When You Deactivate vs. Delete Facebook
There’s an important difference between deactivating and permanently deleting your Facebook account:
| Deactivate | Delete |
|---|---|
| Profile is hidden but all information remains | Profile and information is eventually deleted |
| Can reactivate whenever you want | Account is permanently gone after 30 days |
| Data remains on Facebook’s servers | Data is erased from Facebook’s servers |
As you can see, deactivating just hides your profile and is reversible, while deleting begins the process of removing your account and information entirely.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Deleting Facebook?
Before deciding whether to delete your Facebook account, it helps to weigh the pros and cons:
Pros of Deleting Facebook
– More privacy and control over your data
– Avoid wasting time and increase productivity
– Reduce social media addiction and comparison
– Avoid privacy issues and scandals associated with Facebook
Cons of Deleting Facebook
– Lose touch with friends, family, groups and Pages you follow
– Miss out on events, invitations, announcements and messages
– Lose access to memories and photos stored on Facebook
– Can’t easily reactivate account or retrieve data after 30 days
Overall, deleting your account gives you more privacy at the expense of connections and convenience. Consider if you can achieve your goals by just cleaning up your account and adjusting settings instead of fully deleting.
Should You Delete Facebook?
Here are a few key questions to ask yourself when deciding if you should delete your Facebook account:
Do you spend too much time on Facebook?
If Facebook is negatively impacting your productivity or mental health, deleting can help reclaim that time.
Are you concerned about data privacy?
Deleting Facebook ensures they no longer store your personal information and content.
Do you rarely use your account?
If you’ve stopped using Facebook regularly, consider deleting your unused account.
Could deleting cause you to lose important connections?
If Facebook is how you stay in touch with lots of friends, family or groups, losing access could be problematic.
Are there alternative ways to stay in touch?
If you can connect with your network using other platforms or contact info, deleting Facebook may be less disruptive.
If privacy and productivity outweigh your need for Facebook, deleting your account could be the right choice. But consider all factors carefully first.
Conclusion
Deleting your Facebook account does begin the process of removing your information from their servers, although some data may persist in backups. Before deleting your profile, download any data you want to keep and remove as much content as possible. Understand that you’ll lose connections and convenience when your Facebook account is gone for good after 30 days. Consider whether restricting or deactivating your account might be an alternative approach unless privacy concerns outweigh your need for Facebook.