How To Delete Your Facebook Account if You're Over Social Media

Deleting your Facebook account is a straightforward process in theory, but it can be a little confusing if you do not know what you are doing.

The steps that you need to follow are buried right at the bottom of the relevant support page and Facebook will try to persuade you into temporarily deactivating your profile instead. With that said, Newsweek has prepared the following guide to simplify things.

There are several reasons why you might want to erase your profile, yet before you commit to the decision, it is important that you understand what will happen. You will have a 30-day period to reconsider your decision (and restore the account) but once this time has elapsed, your profile will be gone for good, along with its associated posts, photos and video uploads. As such, you might want to check that you have backups of any files that you will miss.

In addition to this, any Facebook pages that you control will also be deleted, unless you assign them to somebody else first. You will lose all your logins for apps that you may have initially signed up for using your Facebook account (including Spotify, Pinterest and Oculus).

How To Permanently Delete Your Facebook Account

If, after reading all of the above, you are absolutely certain that you still want to delete your Facebook profile, then all you need to do is follow the steps outlined below.

On PC or Laptop

1. Log into your Facebook profile on a PC or laptop
2. Click the downwards arrow in the top right-hand corner of the screen
3. Click on "Settings and privacy", followed by "Settings"
4. Click on "Your Facebook information"
5. Click on "Deactivation and deletion", followed by "Deletion"
6. Follow the instructions on screen until you are prompted to input your Facebook password.

On a Cell Phone

1. Open the Facebook app
2. Tap on the three horizontal lines in the top right-hand corner of the screen (next to the bell icon)
3. Tap on "Settings & privacy", followed by "Settings
4. Tap on "Personal account information"
5. Tap on "Account ownership and control"
6. Tap of "Deactivation and deletion", followed by "Deletion"
7. Follow the instructions on screen until you are prompted to input your Facebook password.

For those who are deleting their account on a PC or laptop device, the first thing you will need to do is actually log into your profile. Once you have done this, click on the downward-facing arrow in the top right-hand corner of the screen and then select the "Settings & privacy" menu. From there, you will need to navigate to "Settings".

Once you are in the Settings page, you will notice that a new column has appeared on the left. Click on the "Your Facebook information" option here, which is the third row down.

You will then be taken to a new page, which has an option for "Deactivation and deletion" (located right at the bottom). Click on the "View" hyperlink next to this and you will then be presented with two choices.

You can either temporarily deactivate your account or permanently delete it. Tick the second box and then click on "Continue to account deletion". A message will then pop up, reminding you of what will happen if you decide to go through with this.

Click "Delete account" here and you will then be prompted to enter in your Facebook password in order to confirm your decision.

1 of 2

How To Cancel an Account Deletion

If you decide that you have made a mistake and that you want to retrieve your profile, you will have a 30-day window in which to do so.

To recover a deleted Facebook account, simply log in with your username and password before that 30-day period has elapsed.

In related social media news, Facebook has recently changed its corporate name to Meta and Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled the company's plans for its ambitious metaverse.