How to delete Facebook account permanently or deactivate it temporarily

Facebook is currently the largest social media platform on the globe offering the best tool to connect with friends, family, and acquaintances. Meta’s social platform has been facing the heat over privacy concerns. Question over Facebook’s privacy are raised by not only in India but even in the US, UK and other parts of the world. Many of us also have Facebook privacy concerns and are looking to learn how to delete your facebook account permanently or deactivate your facebook account temporarily? [हिंदी में पढ़ें]

Well, we have created a step by step guide to tell you the process of deactivation and deleting a Facebook account. Also, if you want to download the backup of your Facebook account before deleting it, we have got you there. 

How to deactivate your Facebook account

Deactivating a Facebook account lets you take a break from social media for some period of time of your choice. If you opt to deactivate your account, it will disable your profile from Facebook and no one can see your posts, images, likes, and comments. Though you will still have access to Facebook Messenger and third-party apps like LinkedIn, Spotify, Quora, etc. A disabled Facebook account can be reactivated anytime, anywhere by just logging back into the platform.

Here are the steps to temporarily disable a Facebook account:

1. Log in to your Facebook account on a web browser.
2. Click on your profile picture in the right corner and click on Setting> Setting and Privacy.
3. Select Your Facebook Information from the left menu and head to the bottom to click “Deactivation and Deletion.” 
4. Select Deactivate Account, then Continue to Account Deactivation. 
5. Enter your Facebook account’s password.
6. Follow the instructions to confirm deactivation.

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How to download Facebook account data

This step is necessary for those who want to permanently delete their Facebook account and need a copy of the data they have posted on social media. It includes posts, messages, reels, stories, events, etc. You should follow the below instructions to download all kinds of data before permanently deleting the Facebook account.

1. Log in to your Facebook account on a web browser.
2. Click on your profile picture in the right corner and click on Setting> Setting and Privacy.
3. Select Your Facebook Information from the left menu and click on the “Download your information” option.
4. Select the format (HTML or JSON), quality and time period. Also, your activity across Facebook will be shown to select or deselect them.
5. Click on the “Request a download” button. It will automatically start creating a file of your data. 
6. Switch on the option “Available files” on the same page to view and download the created file.

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How to permanently delete a Facebook account

If you have made up your mind to finally delete the Facebook account forever, it doesn’t ask for much. Just follow the below-mentioned easy instructions to do so.

1. Log in to your Facebook account on a web browser.
2. Click on your profile picture in the right corner and click on Setting> Setting and Privacy.
3. Select Your Facebook Information from the left menu and head to the bottom to click “Deactivation and Deletion.” 
4. Tap on “Delete account” and click “Continue to account deletion.”
5. It will show you a warning and options like deactivation, download information, or group settings you’re an admin of. Click on “Delete account” accordingly.

Facebook takes 30 days to permanently remove your account and takes up to 90 days to remove data from its servers. In some cases, the company might store critical information for legal purposes. 

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FAQs

Q- What happens to Facebook data after account deletion?

Ans– Facebook can take up to 90 days or more to completely delete the account. The data can be stored on Instagram for an even longer time in order to cater for any legal issue. You can get more information on this by going to Meta’s Privacy Policy.

Q- Does deactivate the Facebook account and deleting the Facebook account is the same thing?

Ans– No, both are completely different things. Deactivating the account means you can resume access anytime but deleting the account means once 30 days are over, you can’t access the same account instead you have to make a new Facebook account.