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Deleting a Facebook account

July 24, 2007 in web by Hugh

Steve explores what it takes to delete your Facebook account (and all the data in there). Says the helpful Lucy of the Facebook Team:

Hi Steven,
If you deactivate, your account is removed from the site. However, we save all your profile content (friends, photos, interests, etc.), so if you want to reactivate sometime, your account will look just the way it did when you deactivated. If you do want your information completely wiped from our servers, we can do this for you. However, you need to remove all profile content before we can do this. Once you have cleared your account, let us know and we’ll take care of the rest.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Lucy
Customer Support Representative
Facebook

This means there is a function to “deactivate” your account, leaving all info intact… but there is no standard function to delete your account. For that you must a) remove all profile content*, and b) contact Facebook directly.

*Now what Lucy doesn’t explicitly say here, though she informs Steve later in the conversation, is that “removing all your profile content (friends, photos, interests, etc.) means deleting, one-by-one every single thing in on your facebook page (minifeed items, little widgety things like movie reviews, friends, etc). Which, if you’ve been at it for a while, could take hours and hours.

Thanks, Facebook.

Read more about Steve’s adventures with Facebook’s privacy policy.

44 comments

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November 6, 2007 at 1:13 am

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February 13, 2008 at 7:23 pm

Pingback from hughmcguire.net · steve vs facebook

August 6, 2007 at 6:28 pm

Miriam Silknetter

I would like my facebook account deleted please and can you send me a note the it is delete please thanks.

sweetascake30@aim.com

Miriam

August 7, 2007 at 9:19 pm

Jenna

can you please delete my facebook

August 30, 2007 at 1:17 pm

rodney noble veinotte

please remove me from facebook, i can’t access my account and tired of waiting for correspondance from facebook about password.

September 1, 2007 at 6:29 pm

Kenneth

Can you show me how to permanently delete my facebook account because I don’t like it anymore? Thanks.

September 2, 2007 at 6:57 am

Hugh

sorry folks i have no idea how to delete a facebook account.

September 27, 2007 at 12:45 pm

Mervi

You CAN delete your facebook account – by emailing the tech support and requesting it to be done. They will ask *you* to first delete “all profile content” and then email them again about it. So it’s not as easy as it should be, but can be done.

September 27, 2007 at 3:31 pm

Hugh

right:
“there is no standard function to delete your account. For that you must a) remove all profile content*, and b) contact Facebook directly”

October 29, 2007 at 3:39 am

melissa

Hi there,can you please remove me fron Facebook.

Please notify me on my email ad:melissa@computron.za.net

October 31, 2007 at 2:58 pm

carol beal

please delete all my details from facebook

November 1, 2007 at 2:15 am

melissa

Please delete my facebook….

November 5, 2007 at 10:55 am

Facebook Guy

Hugh,

Please delete me from facebook.

After that, please delete me from the gene pool as I am too stupid to own a computer and cannot read simple paragraphs….plus, I have completely missed the point of your post.

Please send an e-mail to: donut@hotmail.com to confirm when you’ve delete me. ASAP.

Regards

November 5, 2007 at 12:17 pm

yeah you heard me

What a bunch of friggin retards

November 5, 2007 at 3:03 pm

More Trees, Less Bush

Oooh, well done Steve, a cutting and incisive expose there of the dark underbelly of facebook, cos like we were all waiting to find out facebook was really a conthpirathy.

I’m wondering how I can delete Steve from teh internetz?

I’d gladly take the time to delete him bit by bit even if it took hours, cos it would be one less sad fucker cluttering up teh internetz and ting dem, yeah?

November 5, 2007 at 10:16 pm

Ms. F

Wow, some of the people who’ve commented on this entry don’t have much by way of reading comprehension, do they?

November 6, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Hugh

I find the whole thing mysterious… where are you all coming from??

November 16, 2007 at 10:36 am

Paul

Please delete my face. And teach me how to read a book.

December 21, 2007 at 6:36 pm

lol

Hahahahahaha,
The comments rule.

January 12, 2008 at 8:01 pm

Yvon Ouellet

can’t stand having to go through so much garbage, such as email, pass word etc…

February 8, 2008 at 8:51 pm

Tammy

Can you please delete my Facebook account and send me an e-mail when this is done?

February 8, 2008 at 9:20 pm

Hugh

yes tammy I am on it. i’ll let you know.

March 19, 2008 at 11:43 pm

KAVINDU

i want to delete my facebook account.

March 20, 2008 at 5:17 pm

Hugh

dude, i feel your pain.

April 11, 2008 at 8:44 am

KAVINDU

i want to no da way to delet my face book account

April 23, 2008 at 6:12 pm

stephanie

how did i delet my bacebook account can i do that?

September 17, 2008 at 5:33 am

emma

can u delete me from face book pleze fanksxxx

October 8, 2008 at 7:52 am

Natasha Koopman

Please delete me from facebook thanks.

October 10, 2008 at 1:19 am

Hugh

yes for everyone wanting their facebook account deleted, i’m on it, i’ll report back if i’m successful.

October 20, 2008 at 7:38 am

lolita granita

delete my account and all information from the facebook

November 30, 2008 at 7:25 pm

jodi-wainmann@hotmail.com

please reactivate my account having trouble

January 13, 2009 at 4:34 pm

dina

i think my account got permanently deleted when i changed my contact email, cus it says my old one isn’t registered anymore . Is it really gone forever?

May 11, 2009 at 4:28 am

Rhonda Lillian Baker

Please can you delete me from facebook.
Thank’s Rhonda

May 16, 2009 at 1:31 pm

Neeru Iyer

=D This is SO freakin’ funny! What DO they all think you’re trying to say?! If the post wasn’t funny enough, the comments make up for it. Hell, am I glad I’m NOT on facebook!

P.S. Are you REALLY working on *all* these requests? :O
:P

August 14, 2009 at 6:27 am

angie french

dont want to be on face boook no more delete me

September 19, 2009 at 8:19 pm

Billie Mitchell

Please cancel my account from Facebook and send me an e-mail for confirmation! Thank you.

November 10, 2009 at 5:48 am

Charlie

I want facebook to remove me from there site.

November 18, 2009 at 2:19 pm

mike cunningham