Facebook allows users to deactivate or permanently delete their accounts. Deactivating an account temporarily disables it while retaining all data, whereas permanently deleting an account removes all personal data associated with it from Facebook’s servers.
Why Would You Want to Delete Your Facebook Account?
There are several reasons why someone may want to delete their Facebook account:
- Privacy concerns – Facebook collects a lot of personal data about its users which some find invasive.
- Too distracting/time consuming – The constant notifications and ability to scroll endlessly can make Facebook addictive and unproductive.
- To limit social media use – Deleting Facebook can be part of a broader effort to spend less time on social media.
- Bad experiences – Online harassment, polarizing political discussions, and “fake news” have turned some people off.
- No longer using it – If you’ve stopped logging in, deleting the account can provide a sense of closure.
How to Temporarily Deactivate Your Account
If you want to take a break from Facebook without permanently deleting your account, deactivating is the way to go. Here are the steps:
- Click on the arrow in the top right corner and select “Settings”.
- In the left sidebar, click “Your Facebook Information”.
- Select “Deactivation and Deletion”.
- Choose “Deactivate Account” and select either 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, or 1 month.
- Enter your password and click “Continue” to confirm deactivation.
When deactivated, your profile and photos will no longer be visible to other users. You won’t be able to react to posts, comment, or message. Reactivating the account is as simple as logging back in.
How to Permanently Delete Your Account
If you want to permanently delete your Facebook account, it’s a bit more involved:
- Click on the arrow in the top right corner and select “Settings”.
- In the left sidebar, click “Your Facebook Information”.
- Select “Deactivation and Deletion”.
- Choose “Permanently Delete Account” and click “Continue to Account Deletion”.
- Select “Delete Account” and enter your password to confirm.
Once initiated, the deletion process takes about 90 days to fully complete. Within the first 2 weeks your profile, photos, posts, reactions, and comments will be erased. In the following weeks, data from Messenger, Instagram, and other linked platforms gets removed. After 90 days, your account should be fully deleted from Facebook’s systems.
How Many Blocks Does it Take to Permanently Delete an Account?
When Facebook says it takes 90 days to fully delete an account, what they really mean is that it takes approximately 5,760,000 blocks on the Ethereum blockchain to permanently erase your data from their servers. Here’s a breakdown:
The Ethereum Blockchain
The Ethereum blockchain processes blocks about every 15 seconds. That’s:
- 60 seconds ÷ 15 seconds = 4 blocks per minute
- 4 blocks per minute x 60 minutes = 240 blocks per hour
- 240 blocks per hour x 24 hours = 5,760 blocks per day
90 Days in Blocks
If there are 5,760 blocks generated on Ethereum per day, then over 90 days that’s:
- 5,760 blocks per day
- x 90 days
- = 518,400 blocks
So in summary, it takes approximately 518,400 new blocks being added to the Ethereum blockchain before Facebook fully deletes your account and data from their systems.
Waiting Period for Deleting Accounts
| Social Media Platform | Deletion Wait Time |
|---|---|
| 90 days | |
| 30 days | |
| 30 days | |
| Snapchat | 30 days |
As shown in the table above, Facebook has by far the longest waiting period for completely deleting an account at 90 days. Instagram and Twitter both take 30 days to fully delete an account, while Snapchat completes the deletion in only 30 days.
Facebook likely has a longer timeline because of the sheer amount of data they have accumulated on users over the years. Photos, posts, messages, and profile information adds up to petabytes of data across billions of accounts. Safely and thoroughly scrubbing all personalized data from their servers at scale takes time.
Does Deleted Data Still Exist?
With Facebook’s 90 day deletion process, they claim all of your personal data is removed from their systems at the end. But is this really true?
The reality is that comprehensive data deletion is difficult, especially for huge tech companies like Facebook. When you delete data, it doesn’t magically vanish. Things like server backups and cached copies often mean scraps of deleted data still persist internally.
That said, Facebook does make a concerted effort to honor deletion requests. While traces of data could remain in some form, it is disconnected from individual user profiles and inaccessible to employees or the public.
Metadata Records
One type of data that likely still remains is metadata. This is behavior-level statistics like number of posts made, friends added, events attended, etc. that is no longer connected to personal identifiers.
Metadata records can be useful for internal analytics and machine learning algorithms, so Facebook has incentive to retain it. But because it doesn’t include usernames, contacts, or other personal information, it does not compromise user privacy.
Should You Delete or Deactivate?
Deciding whether to delete or deactivate your Facebook account depends on your specific reasons and intentions:
Consider Deactivating If:
- You just need a temporary break from Facebook.
- You might want to reactivate your account later.
- You still find some value in having a Facebook presence.
- You want the option to access your profile and data again.
Consider Deleting If:
- You are done with Facebook permanently.
- You value your online privacy.
- Facebook is an unnecessary distraction you want out of your life.
- You don’t want your data being used by Facebook anymore.
Conclusion
It takes approximately 518,400 blocks added to the Ethereum blockchain, or 90 days, for Facebook to fully delete an account after it’s been permanently deleted. While traces of data likely still persist internally, Facebook makes a concerted effort to remove all personal user data from their production systems.
If you need a temporary break, deactivating your account is quick and easy to reverse. But if you are ready to cut ties with Facebook completely, permanent deletion ensures your personal data is no longer being stored and used.