How to Delete Facebook Account for Good, On Phone, Computer

Some Facebook users have been signing off of the app for months now as more scandals about data breaches are revealed.

The latest privacy scandal was revealed Tuesday. Facebook allegedly allowed Bing to see the names of user’s friends and allowed Netflix and Spotify access to user’s private messages, The New York Times reported.

The scandals have left users wondering how they could delete their accounts in the hopes that their information wouldn’t be made available in the future to any companies they didn’t agree to.

The process for deleting a Facebook account permanently is quite long but if users stick to it they can effectively have their accounts wiped from the social media network. Users should keep in mind that deactivating their account and deleting their accounts are two very different things.

Deactivating an account means it’s not live, and users won’t have access to it, but the information is all still hosted on Facebook. Some information, like messages, stay available after a user deactivates and they can reactivate their account whenever they want.

Deleting an account permanently is exactly that, permanent. Once the account is deleted it can never be recovered and it can take more than a month for data attached to the account to actually be deleted. Information that is stored outside of an individual's account, like messages, can still be visible to other people.

facebook logo code Facebook copy-and-paste scams are back, as are the fake friend requests. Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

How to delete your Facebook account for good:

Users should log into their Facebook account and select the little down arrow in the corner of the page. Then they should open “Settings” on the site or in the app and then scroll down and select “Your Facebook Information.”

The next few steps involve users selecting and confirming that they want to delete their account several times. From there, users will be able to choose to delete their account and information. Next, they’ll have to select “Delete My Account” again and then enter their password to confirm that it’s them who wants to delete the account. The next step is to choose continue and then “Delete Account.”

After users complete these steps, they have 30 days to wait before their accounts are actually deleted. If users change their mind and want their account back after deletion they simply need to log in and select “Cancel Deletion.”

If they don’t, their account will be no longer recoverable after 30 days and then should be deleted fully by 90 days, according to the company.​

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