Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How do I permanently delete my account?

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 158 posts

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#11

Post by cVwEq »

fragsworth wrote: post #6

I did not know they really had this as an option. I'm glad to hear it's available. I'd like to know how thorough they are with deleting you, however. With stories of "ghost" profiles that they build on individuals who don't have accounts (and/or are not logged in), I would be surprised if they actually delete everything they know about you.

Hard to say what data they still retain and for how long. However, the sooner you delete your FB account, the less data FB is likely to have on you in 5 or 10 years, assuming data retention periods, etc.

I found the process easy to complete using the directions in the link. It was quite liberating to have my account deleted, actually. Don't miss it at all, although it left some friends and my mom scratching their heads.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#12

Post by roy3jake »

fragsworth wrote: post #6

I did not know they really had this as an option. I'm glad to hear it's available. I'd like to know how thorough they are with deleting you, however. With stories of "ghost" profiles that they build on individuals who don't have accounts (and/or are not logged in), I would be surprised if they actually delete everything they know about you.

I'm really glad they allow you to do this

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#13

Post by minimaxir »

throwaway613834 wrote: post #2

Why is this on the front page...? EDIT: I'm not complaining, I'm literally asking what there is that people find interesting about this link, since I feel like I must have missed it. Though feel free to keep downvoting through the floor.

In addition to what everyone else says, it is currently a national holiday in the US and there are relatively few submissions being posted now, so new submissions can rise much easier.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#14

Post by andkenneth »

The GDPR is a huge deal and absolutely no joke. This is part of the compliance for that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula...

It has the potential to completely change the way tech giants are able to provide their services. Each "purpose" that data is collected for must be individually consented, and it's prohibited for purposes to be withheld if others are not consented to. This allows a user to allow the purposes that are a cost on the company, and deny those that are revenue earners.

Will be very interesting to see how these heavily data based companies adapt.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#17

Post by justhw »

How do we really know that this is actual deletion and not a deleted="true" in their databases?

> It is inaccessible to other people using Facebook.

The wording does sound very convincing but I really don't think we can just believe their word. After all it's Facebook.

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#18

Post by bcook »

alexforster wrote: post #15

There's a one-click page to permanently delete your Facebook account here: https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account

Last I checked, this doesn't permanently delete your account. You can still return with the same email and have all your old contacts (and post history, etc?).

Re: How do I permanently delete my account?

#19

Post by HoochTHX »

fragsworth wrote: post #6

I did not know they really had this as an option. I'm glad to hear it's available. I'd like to know how thorough they are with deleting you, however. With stories of "ghost" profiles that they build on individuals who don't have accounts (and/or are not logged in), I would be surprised if they actually delete everything they know about you.

The option is a lie, I did this the fall after the Snowden releases, and then this past summer decided to see if the delete actually happened after the two week period that was part of that process then, everything from my account was still there, nothing was deleted.
Post reply on HN