Want to Delete Your Facebook Account? You Must Now Wait 30 Days

Facebook quietly extends the time period it takes to cancel an account.

Thinking about going off the grid and deleting your Facebook account? The social media giant has just extended the time frame that it takes to truly disconnect from the network.

Here’s what you need to know.

Facebook has a deletion “grace period.” Users have always had the option of reactivating their accounts within 14 days of deleting it, if they change their minds and decide to keep it. Now, Facebook has extended that grace period to 30 days.

On the plus side, that means users have an extra two weeks to decide whether they truly want to leave the social network and delete the data that’s included with it. A Facebook spokesperson told the Verge the change was made to give people “more time to make a fully informed choice.”

On the negative side, that means your personal data continues to live on the site for a full month after you’ve chosen to terminate your account. For a person committed to disengaging from Facebook, that could be an annoyance.

2. Facebook Did Not Publicly Announce the Extension, But the Network’s ‘Help Center’ Reflects the Change
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FacebookFacebook extends the amount of time a person can reactivate their account after deleting it.

Facebook did not make any kind of formal announcement that it now takes longer to delete your account. Instead, the network merely updated the information in the Help Center.

The page reads as follows: “If it’s been less than 30 days since you initiated the deletion, you can cancel your account deletion. After 30 days, your account and all your information will be permanently deleted, and you won’t be able to retrieve your information.”

The Help Center also acknowledges that some of your personal data could still exist on the social media network past 30 days. Facebook’s page states that deleting all of the data can take as long as 90 days. However, the information is allegedly not accessible by other Facebook users.

3. Facebook Has Recently Made Efforts to Expand its Transparency After a Major Data Scandal
In March of 2018, Facebook announced they were making it easier for users to find their privacy settings on the site. They also simplified the process to delete specific information, or to restrict what others see on your page.

The company made the redesign changes in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in an effort to be more transparent. Cambridge Analytica was a data firm hired by the Trump campaign in 2016. The firm accessed private Facebook data from as many as 50 million users. The firm could see a person’s “likes,” groups and friend networks. The data was then used to create targeted political ads. (You can read more on the scandal here).

4. How to Delete Your Facebook Account
Facebook users are encouraged to download their data, such as all their photos and messages, before deleting an account. Once Facebook deletes the data, there’s allegedly no bringing it back.

To download your data, go to Settings. Click on Your Facebook Information; you’ll see it in the left-hand corner of the screen. That’ll take you to a screen that allows you to select the categories you want to download. Once you’ve made your selections, click Create Filed to confirm the request. Facebook says it may take a few days to finish downloading a copy of the data, depending on how much information is requested.

Facebook reminds users that you have the option of temporarily deactivating your account. In this mode, your page is reportedly invisible to other users. But your photos, posts and personal information is all still saved on the site. Facebook Messenger remains accessible as well.

But if you truly want to delete a Facebook account, the initial steps are very easy. Just go to Your Facebook Information and click Delete Your Account and Information. It will ask you again to click Delete My Account, before requesting a password. Hit Continue and then Delete Account again. But as explained above, your information does not immediately vanish from Facebook. Your account will not truly delete for 30 days, and it could take 90 days for all your data to be removed from the social network.

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5. Despite Recent Data Controversies, Facebook Remains the Most Popular Social Media Platform

‌Facebook continues to reign supreme in the social media world. Snapchat and Instagram may be more popular with the younger generations, but those apps have not yet to catch up to Facebook in terms of active users.

According to Facebook’s company information, 1.47 billion people log on every single day. The network claims that 2.23 billion users log on monthly.

Instagram has been steadily gaining on Facebook’s numbers. The photo-sharing app reached one billion monthly users in June 2018. Meanwhile, Snapchat is said to attract 300 million active users each month.

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