Although I have already talked about it, it is worth refreshing this guide to understand how to proceed with the definitive closure of a Facebook account, so as not to think about it anymore.
While this may seem easy, whatever the reason for wanting to cancel an account, you really need to make sure that you do it well and following certain steps, not only to prevent your face still appearing in the internal search engines, but also to make sure that your data is not stored on Facebook servers.
Since there are many who have decided to give up Facebook for the numerous privacy problems that put personal data in public, let's see how to delete the Facebooj account correctly and completely, especially if it has been used for a long time, you must follow the following steps .
READ ALSO: How to delete your Facebook profile and cancel your account
Note that according to Facebook, deleting the account means you can no longer reactivate it .
Profile, photos, posts, videos and everything that has been published will be permanently deleted and can no longer be recovered. Facebook Messenger cannot be used nor will you be able to access other apps or sites using that Facebook account. Some information, such as messages you sent to friends, may still remain visible to them after deleting the account. Copies of sent messages are saved in friends' inbox.
1) Back up your data
The first step before deleting your Facebook account is to make a backup of all your data and download it to your computer. This will allow you to keep status updates, photos, videos, messages, list of friends and everything that has been done on Facebook since signing up. To download the entire Facebook profile to a PC, you need to go to Settings> About Facebook and select the Download personal information option.
2) Disconnect from apps that use our Facebook account
The next important step is to disconnect third-party apps for which Facebook has been used. For example an app like Spotify is likely to use the Facebook account. To disconnect third party apps, you need to go to Settings> Apps and websites to view the list of apps.
Select the apps to disconnect (if we delete the account select them all) and press the " Remove " button. However, it should be noted that the data in these apps remain, so it would then be appropriate to go to each and register or log in with an email address. You may need to contact the apps to recover these accounts.
3) Deactivate the account
If you are still not sure that you want to delete your Facebook account forever, you can deactivate the account ( Account -> Settings -> Deactivate account ). Deactivation leaves everything intact: information, friends, photos and so on. With a disabled account, you can still be invited to events and receive notifications. Basically, the profile page is hidden for a while, without deleting anything.
Another article explains in detail what it means to disable Facebook .
4) Cancel the account
All you have to do to unsubscribe from Facebook is to click this link that leads to your account settings, in the " Your information on Facebook " section.
From this page, find " Delete your account and information " and continue with the wizard which, in fact, will ask you to backup your profile and disable all external applications. At this point it will no longer be necessary to try to access the account for 90 days, which is the time it takes Facebook to remove all data from its servers. After that, your account is gone forever, and all your data too, hopefully. If you follow this rule, the account will be permanently canceled, otherwise, it will only remain deactivated. You will then have to reactivate Facebook and proceed step by step in the cancellation process.
On this page, there are the instructions to close the Facebook account, which are the same as here.
Before unsubscribing from Facebook, it is advisable to summarize all the steps to pay attention to :
- Disconnect from all devices that have accessed Facebook (from Settings> Security and access ).
- Clear all passwords for apps created within Facebook.
- Manually delete all posts published on Facebook, using an extension like Social Book Post Manager to make it faster (although it may be really impossible to delete everything if you have been subscribed for years).
- Clear the location history (three-point icon in the upper right corner).
- Delete all contacts loaded from the Facebook app (from this link)
- Delete all the payment information of the account (including credit cards) possibly used to purchase advertising.
- Remove phone number and all personal profile information.
- If you are an administrator of Fan pages or groups, make sure you have appointed two other trusted administrators to manage those pages that, otherwise, would remain without any management or even delete the pages.
- If you really want to be sure that Facebook no longer appears on any other site, you can install the Disconnect extension for the Google Chrome browser which prevents the display of Facebook "like" boxes.
To further justify this guide, it is interesting to note some statistics that show a certain disaffection with Facebook. According to the Pew Research Center, with an interview with 4, 594 U.S. adults between May 29 and June 11, 2018, it was found that in the past 12 months, 54% have adjusted their privacy settings, 42% have put the account paused since and 26% deleted the Facebook app entirely. Overall, 74% of Facebook users have taken at least one of these actions.
While this may seem easy, whatever the reason for wanting to cancel an account, you really need to make sure that you do it well and following certain steps, not only to prevent your face still appearing in the internal search engines, but also to make sure that your data is not stored on Facebook servers.
Since there are many who have decided to give up Facebook for the numerous privacy problems that put personal data in public, let's see how to delete the Facebooj account correctly and completely, especially if it has been used for a long time, you must follow the following steps .
READ ALSO: How to delete your Facebook profile and cancel your account
Note that according to Facebook, deleting the account means you can no longer reactivate it .
Profile, photos, posts, videos and everything that has been published will be permanently deleted and can no longer be recovered. Facebook Messenger cannot be used nor will you be able to access other apps or sites using that Facebook account. Some information, such as messages you sent to friends, may still remain visible to them after deleting the account. Copies of sent messages are saved in friends' inbox.
1) Back up your data
The first step before deleting your Facebook account is to make a backup of all your data and download it to your computer. This will allow you to keep status updates, photos, videos, messages, list of friends and everything that has been done on Facebook since signing up. To download the entire Facebook profile to a PC, you need to go to Settings> About Facebook and select the Download personal information option.
2) Disconnect from apps that use our Facebook account
The next important step is to disconnect third-party apps for which Facebook has been used. For example an app like Spotify is likely to use the Facebook account. To disconnect third party apps, you need to go to Settings> Apps and websites to view the list of apps.
Select the apps to disconnect (if we delete the account select them all) and press the " Remove " button. However, it should be noted that the data in these apps remain, so it would then be appropriate to go to each and register or log in with an email address. You may need to contact the apps to recover these accounts.
3) Deactivate the account
If you are still not sure that you want to delete your Facebook account forever, you can deactivate the account ( Account -> Settings -> Deactivate account ). Deactivation leaves everything intact: information, friends, photos and so on. With a disabled account, you can still be invited to events and receive notifications. Basically, the profile page is hidden for a while, without deleting anything.
Another article explains in detail what it means to disable Facebook .
4) Cancel the account
All you have to do to unsubscribe from Facebook is to click this link that leads to your account settings, in the " Your information on Facebook " section.
From this page, find " Delete your account and information " and continue with the wizard which, in fact, will ask you to backup your profile and disable all external applications. At this point it will no longer be necessary to try to access the account for 90 days, which is the time it takes Facebook to remove all data from its servers. After that, your account is gone forever, and all your data too, hopefully. If you follow this rule, the account will be permanently canceled, otherwise, it will only remain deactivated. You will then have to reactivate Facebook and proceed step by step in the cancellation process.
On this page, there are the instructions to close the Facebook account, which are the same as here.
Before unsubscribing from Facebook, it is advisable to summarize all the steps to pay attention to :
- Disconnect from all devices that have accessed Facebook (from Settings> Security and access ).
- Clear all passwords for apps created within Facebook.
- Manually delete all posts published on Facebook, using an extension like Social Book Post Manager to make it faster (although it may be really impossible to delete everything if you have been subscribed for years).
- Clear the location history (three-point icon in the upper right corner).
- Delete all contacts loaded from the Facebook app (from this link)
- Delete all the payment information of the account (including credit cards) possibly used to purchase advertising.
- Remove phone number and all personal profile information.
- If you are an administrator of Fan pages or groups, make sure you have appointed two other trusted administrators to manage those pages that, otherwise, would remain without any management or even delete the pages.
- If you really want to be sure that Facebook no longer appears on any other site, you can install the Disconnect extension for the Google Chrome browser which prevents the display of Facebook "like" boxes.
To further justify this guide, it is interesting to note some statistics that show a certain disaffection with Facebook. According to the Pew Research Center, with an interview with 4, 594 U.S. adults between May 29 and June 11, 2018, it was found that in the past 12 months, 54% have adjusted their privacy settings, 42% have put the account paused since and 26% deleted the Facebook app entirely. Overall, 74% of Facebook users have taken at least one of these actions.
