--- title: How to Delete Your Facebook Account in 5 Easy Steps description: If you're concerned about privacy—or you just want to get rid of your account—here's how to delete your Facebook account in 5 easy steps. authors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Technology - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2018-03-20T17:38:55.000Z' modified: '2024-03-18T14:30:40.000Z' section: Technology tags: - privacy word_count: 465 canonical: https://money.com/how-to-delete-facebook/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Internet Market Considers MIcrosoft Bid for Yahoo](https://img.money.com/2018/03/gettyimages-79493977.jpg) People around the world are deleting their Facebook accounts this week in the wake of a privacy scandal involving recent U.S. elections, a personality survey and users' personal data. But if you want to join them and delete your Facebook account, beware: Logging off of the social media site can be a little tricky. The [#DeleteFacebook](http://www.businessinsider.com/deletefacebook-facebook-cambridge-analytica-fiasco-twitter-2018-3) movement kicked off in earnest after a series of reports broke that a U.K.-based firm called Cambridge Analytica had obtained information from roughly 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge. [According to the *New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/facebook-cambridge-analytica-explained.html), the chain of events started in 2014, when about 270,000 people agreed to take an academic survey and use an app that gained access to their friends' data. Cambridge Analytica reportedly obtained the resulting information and developed voter insight for its clients, which in 2016 reportedly included the Trump campaign. (The campaign [recently told the Associated Press](https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/facebook-bans-trump-affiliated-data-firm-cambridge-analytica-53815233) it didn't use the Cambridge Analytica data, but [CBS News reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-campaign-phased-out-use-of-cambridge-analytica-data-before-election/) it did for the primaries.) Facebook has insisted the Cambridge Analytica news [doesn't amount to](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-cambridge-analytica-was-it-a-data-breach/) a data breach. But many users are fed up with the site, which aside from privacy concerns has been [scientifically linked to depression and jealousy](http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/02/technology/facebook-envy/index.html). ## How to Delete Facebook Want to take the plunge? Here's how: 1. **Understand your options.** You have a choice to make if you want to get off of Facebook: [deactivate or delete](https://www.facebook.com/help/359046244166395/). Deactivating is temporary — you can return to the site at any time. Deleting is forever — much (not necessarily [all](https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674/?ref=u2u)) of your content disappears, and you can't ever get it back. 2. **Be sure you're ready.** Leaving Facebook isn't a no-strings-attached situation. Chances are, your account is tied to other apps like Spotify, OpenTable, and Tinder profile. If you want to protect your data but you're not positive you want to take the radical step of totally deleting Facebook, you can try reviewing your app permissions or using a third-party program to scrub your activity. 3. **Save the important stuff.** Before you do anything, [Select All recommends](http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/12/how-to-delete-facebook.html) you download a copy of all your posts and photos. To do this, go to Facebook, click over to Settings, find General and hit "Download a copy of your Facebook data." Afterward, [Motherboard says](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a3yz9k/how-to-delete-your-facebook-permanently) you should tell your friends you're leaving the site. Write down their birthdays and send them your contact info. 4. **Go ahead and do it.** Once your memories are safely stored on your hard drive and you're ready to delete, [head to this page](https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account). Take a deep breath and click the "Delete My Account" option. Facebook will let you recover your account for two weeks, but it'll get to work on its 90-day process of scrubbing you from the site. 5. **Be free.** And maybe think about deleting Instagram, because Facebook owns that, too. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/how-to-delete-facebook/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Technology", "item": "https://money.com/technology/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Websites", "item": "https://money.com/websites/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "How to Delete Your Facebook Account in 5 Easy Steps" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/how-to-delete-facebook/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/how-to-delete-facebook/", "name": "How to Delete Your Facebook Account in 5 Easy Steps", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-03-20T17:38:55.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/how-to-delete-facebook/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/how-to-delete-facebook/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-03-18T14:30:40.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "How to Delete Your Facebook Account in 5 Easy Steps", "articleSection": "Technology", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/03/gettyimages-79493977.jpg", "width": 2260, "height": 1764, "caption": "Internet Market Considers MIcrosoft Bid for Yahoo" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Julia Glum", "url": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/#author", "description": "Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. 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