How to delete your Facebook account

You may be wondering how to delete your Facebook account now that fact-checking is no longer considered important, and Meta’s changing its definition of what constitutes Hateful Conduct. It’s easy to do, and we’ll show you how. But, you should download all your stuff first.

• Click on your personal icon in the upper-right corner.
• Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
• Click on the Accounts Center box on the left.

• Go to Your information and permissions on the left, and then Download Your Information > Download or transfer information.
• You can choose to transfer information from your Facebook or Instagram account (or both).
• You now have a another choice. You can select Available information, which includes everything but data logs (Meta defines these as “additional details we collect and store that can be associated with you.)” Or you can select Specific types of information, which allows you to determine exactly what you want to download, including those data logs.
• If you choose the latter, you can then select from the variety of data you’ve accumulated, including posts, friends, logged information, saved items and collections, etc. (You can also get the data logs, although Facebook warns it could take 15 days for them to show.) Click on Select all — but be aware you have to click it for each category. When you’re ready, select Next.

• Choose Download to device or Transfer to destination. According to Meta, the typical download is about 2.5GB.
• You’ll now be able to select the date range of the info you want to download (or you can simply download all of it), the format (usually HTML or JSON), and the media quality (low, medium, or high). Enter an email address for a notification when the download is ready.
• Finally, select Create files. You’ll receive an email when your file is ready, and it will be available for a few days. If you’ve been waiting a while and want to know the status of your download (or want to cancel it), go back to the Download your information tab.

• When you are ready, go back to the Accounts Center and click on Personal Details > Account ownership and control > Deactivation or deletion.
• Click Deactivation and Deletion.
• If you have both Facebook and Instagram accounts, you will be asked to choose one.

• If you only want to deactivate your account temporarily (maybe you hope CEO Mark Zuckerberg will change his mind?), you can choose to do so. Otherwise, select Delete account and click Continue.
• You’ll be informed of any other accounts you have with Meta and given several options to explain why you’re leaving. Just keep hitting Continue.

• You’ll see an option to deactivate your account instead, or save the posts in your archive, download your info, and review the apps you’re logged into. When you’re ready, hit Continue.
• You’ll be asked your password for confirmation. Enter it.
• Finally ready? Hit Delete account.
• Once you click Delete account, your account will be marked for termination and inaccessible to others using Facebook.