As of the year 2012, Facebook was collecting an impressive amount of data from its users on a daily basis, totaling over 500 terabytes. This immense volume of data encompassed a wide range of information shared and created by the platform’s users, significantly adding to the extensive repository of user-generated content that Facebook was managing during that period.
That number has likely doubled or even tripled by now.
It’s also become apparent that advertisers and government agencies alike are using social media websites like Facebook to “data mine” users, building profiles for predicting anything from who is most likely to buy the latest energy drink craze to which individuals may need the “no fly list” treatment.
It’s easy to see why people might want to opt out of this kind of data collection. Some countries, specifically in the EU, have attempted to legislate privacy protections and apply them to social network sites, but in reality it hasn’t made much a dent in the amount of data these sites collect and store.
The most effective way to keep Facebook from collecting your data is not to use it.
To be clear, I’m not advocating that people stop using Facebook, that’s really a personal preference, but if you have decided that using Facebook is not what’s best for you, here’s how you can delete your account. Keep in mind, though, that while your account may be deleted, nowhere does Facebook say it will delete your data. That is, after all, they’re most valuable asset.
To delete your Facebook account, you do need to be logged into Facebook.
Once logged in, you’ll need to visit the Delete Facebook Account page on the Facebook website. This is actually kind of hard to find going through the menus of the website, but I’ve linked to it directly here so that you don’t have to search for it.
Keep in mind, once your account is deleted all of the data you’ve uploaded to Facebook will be gone. That includes pictures, messages, etc. It is recommended that before you delete your Facebook account you download a backup of your data.
To download a copy of your Facebook data, click the arrow icon at the top left of your Facebook page and then select Settings from the menu.
On the Settings page there will be a link to “Download a copy of your Facebook page”. Click that link to download your backup copy.
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