When Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, no one could have imagined it would eventually become one of the most consequential—and valuable—tech companies in history. What started as a simple digital platform for staying in touch with friends and family has evolved into a global juggernaut that operates multiple social media sites, including Instagram and WhatsApp.
Facebook boasts nearly 3 billion monthly active users, and roughly 70 percent of adults in the U.S. have a Facebook account. It also earned more than $85 billion in advertising revenue in 2020, up 21 percent over the previous year. However, despite this, searches for “how to delete your facebook account” have exploded over the past couple years.
In addition to using Facebook to connect with family members, friends, celebrities, brands and online influencers, more than a third of Facebook users rely on the platform as a primary source of news and information, and many small business owners rely on it to reach customers and promote their goods and services.
Despite the myriad benefits it offers to users, as Facebook has grown, it has become the target of widespread criticism for its questionable privacy practices, its role in spreading false and misleading information during the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections and its increasing encroachment on users’ personal lives.
As a result, millions of users are opting to limit their activity on Facebook or even delete their accounts entirely. If you’re concerned about the potential negative impact of social media on your own life and well-being, keep reading to find out why so many like-minded individuals are deciding to flee Facebook.
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Reasons to Consider Deleting Facebook in 2022
There are many reasons to look into how to delete your Facebook account in the upcoming year. Here are three of the most commonly considered.
Facebook has been identified as a powerful perpetrator of fake news and false information
In both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections, Facebook proved to be a hotbed of exaggerations and even outright lies, with foreign citizens and even campaigns themselves using the platform to spread false information about candidates’ personal lives and political platforms.
These inaccurate posts went largely unchecked by Facebook, which tends to consider political speech as “newsworthy” and closely protected by the First Amendment.
As a result, posts by politicians were almost never subject to review by fact-checkers or required to conform to the platform’s typical content guidelines.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook has also permitted the rampant spread of unverified information about the virus, including transmission, mask-wearing, vaccines, and other treatments. Due to the false narratives shared on Facebook and other social media, millions of people worldwide have refused to comply with guidelines shown to slow transmission of the virus, resulting in countless preventable cases and deaths.
A recent study published in the academic journal Nature: Human Behavior showed that Facebook is by far the top digital source of fake news, perpetuating false information at a significantly higher rate than Google, Twitter, AOL, Yahoo, and Gmail.
Facebook collects (and shares) massive amounts of personal data about its users
As you scroll through your Facebook feed, you may not realize just how much personal information the company is amassing about you, primarily for the purpose of targeting advertisements to your demographics. Facebook allows marketers to target users based on dozens of personal data points, including age, geographic location, gender, education level, ethnic affinity, political affiliation, relationship status, employer, vacation preferences, and even how much money they’re likely to spend on their next car purchase.
Facebook also tracks users’ browsing, search history, and activity on other apps and websites to help it compile many of these personal characteristics, essentially amounting to constant digital surveillance.
Facebook falls short in its responsibility to protect users’ personal data
In recent years, Facebook has been implicated in multiple data breaches and other incidents in which the company failed to protect the personal data it has collected from its users.
- In 2018, a whistleblower revealed that Facebook had provided the personal data of as many as 87 million users to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm hired by the Trump campaign in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. The data included information related to users’ identities, friend groups and “likes,” and Facebook failed to inform any of the affected individuals that their personal information had been disclosed.
- In 2019, the company was charged by the Federal Trade Commission for violating users’ privacy by storing users’ passwords in plain text files, making them vulnerable to data breaches; Facebook ultimately agreed to a $5 billion settlement in the case.
- Facebook has also threatened legal action against fellow tech giant Apple, which recently updated its operating systems to give users the choice to opt out of allowing Facebook (and other apps) to track their activity while using other apps and websites. Facebook relies on this data to target its advertising more precisely to individual users, but critics contend this practice amounts to an invasion of privacy.
Given the company’s resistance to Apple’s efforts to restore control over their personal information to its users, it’s clear that Facebook prioritizes profit margins over user privacy. As a result, it’s largely up to individual users to take charge of protecting their personal data by implementing strict privacy settings on Facebook—or leaving the social media platform entirely.
Leaving Facebook: Your Options
Over its nearly 20-year history, Facebook has managed to insert itself into virtually every aspect of its users’ lives. Users rely on the site to stay in touch with geographically-distant friends and family members, get information about current events, connect with local businesses and national brands and even keep track of birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates.
The site’s ubiquity can make deleting one’s account feel almost impossible, and the fear of missing out on social connections and breaking news has prompted some dissatisfied users to hang onto their accounts.
Hanging onto other Facebook accounts is despite concerns over the company’s practices around privacy and perpetuating false information.
The site’s ubiquity can make deleting one’s account feel almost impossible, and the fear of missing out on social connections and breaking news has prompted some dissatisfied users to hang onto their accounts despite concerns over the company’s practices around privacy and perpetuating false information.
If you’ve come to the conclusion that the value you get from being on Facebook is no longer worth the price of your privacy and personal beliefs, you have two options for extracting yourself from the social media site: temporary account deactivation and permanent account deletion.
Deactivating Your Facebook Account
If you’re not quite convinced that leaving Facebook forever is the best option for you, consider deactivating your account, either for a specified period of time or an indefinite hiatus. While your account is deactivated, your name won’t appear in Facebook searches, and your timeline will be invisible to Facebook friends as well as people with whom you aren’t connected.
You can still send and receive messages on Messenger, and you can still use your Facebook login to access connected apps like Instagram, Pinterest or Spotify.
To deactivate your account from a desktop browser
- Log into your account.
- Click on the down arrow icon in the top right corner of the page.
- From the drop-down menu, choose Settings & Privacy and click on Settings.
- In the list on the left side of the page, click on Your Facebook Information (alternatively click here)
- From the list in the center of the page, select Deactivation and Deletion.
- Click the button next to Deactivate Account and then click the blue Continue to Account Deactivation button.
- On the next screen, you will be required to choose a reason for deactivation. You can also check a box to opt out of receiving emails from Facebook. Once you have made your selections, click the blue Deactivate button to complete the process.
To deactivate your account from within the mobile app
- Tap the Menu icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy, then select Settings from the drop-down menu.
- Tap on Personal and Account Information.
- Choose Account Ownership and Control and then Deactivation and Deletion.
- Click the button next to Deactivate Account and then click the blue Continue to Account Deactivation button.
- On the next screen, you will need to re-enter your password for security purposes.
- As with the desktop method, you will then be required to choose a reason for deactivation before clicking the blue Deactivate button to complete the process.
How To Delete Your Facebook Account
If you’re ready to leave Facebook permanently, deleting your account is the way to go. Before taking this step, make sure to download your activity history, which will allow you to preserve the photos and posts you’ve uploaded to Facebook. This is a critical first step for how to delete your Facebook account.
It’s also important to note that if you change your mind within 30 days of clicking “Delete,” you can fully restore your account simply by logging back into Facebook. Once the 30-day grace period has ended, your account will be inaccessible to you, although it may take the company up to three full months to completely remove your information from the site.
How to delete your Facebook account from a desktop browser
- Once you’ve logged into your account, click on the down arrow icon in the top right corner of the page.
- From the drop-down menu, choose Settings & Privacy and then Settings.
- From the list on the left side of the page, click on Your Facebook Information.
- In the center of the page, click on the Deactivation and Deletion option.
- Select the button next to Delete Account. You’ll see a reminder warning you that this action is permanent and that you will no longer have access to your content, including your Messenger account and past messages.
- Click the blue Continue to Account Deletion button.
- On the next screen, you will have the option to download your information if you haven’t already done so.
- Click the blue Delete Account button. Enter your password when prompted and click Continue.
How to delete your Facebook account from within the mobile app
- Make sure you have already downloaded your information to a computer, since it’s harder to complete this step on the mobile app.
- Select the Menu icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Scroll down the page and select Settings & Privacy, then choose Settings from the drop-down menu.
- Tap on Personal and Account Information.
- Choose Account Ownership and Control and then Deactivation and Deletion.
- Click the button next to Delete Account followed by the blue Continue to Account Deletion button.
- On the next screen, you will need to re-enter your password for security purposes.
- Click Continue to complete the process.
Final Thoughts on How To Delete Your Facebook Account
Though the process is technically simple, deleting Facebook can be surprisingly difficult from a psychological perspective, especially as social media platforms have become almost inextricably entwined with our real-world relationships and activities.
In the first few weeks after deactivating or deleting your account, you may find yourself with idle time to fill that you once spent mindlessly scrolling through your newsfeed or arguing with strangers in the comments section.
Be prepared to remind yourself of the reasons you decided to remove yourself from the site, and take solace in knowing you’ve made an important step toward protecting your personal information—and possibly even your long-term mental health.
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