How to Deactivate or Delete a Facebook Account, Page, or Group

Facebook is the world's largest social media platform, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users. Although Facebook has many attractive features like pages, groups, and Marketplace, there are always people who are dissatisfied and leave the platform.

Many want to stay away from social media and avoid the toxic culture that persists online. Others are worried about their privacy and providing confidential information to these platforms. Data breaches are prevalent for a platform like Facebook, and the sensitive information of millions of people is lost, causing old and new users to leave the platform.

It doesn't matter why you're choosing to delete your presence off of Facebook; we've got you covered. We’ll guide you through the process of how to delete your Facebook account, page, or group step-by-step.

What's the Difference Between Deactivating and Deleting a Facebook Account?

The most fundamental difference between these two is that while deleting is permanent and can't be reversed, deactivating is a temporary action giving you the option to return to Facebook whenever you desire.

When you deactivate an account, all your posts, photos, videos, and account information are hidden from your friends and public view until you decide to reactivate.

Contrarily, if you delete your account, Facebook will permanently delete all of your user information and media, making it as if it never existed in the first place. Because of this, Facebook can set back the deletion for some time if you have a change of heart.

Preliminary Steps

Before you go on to deactivate or delete your Facebook account, there might be some things you'd want to look into first.

Apps and websites like Spotify give you the option to log in to them using your Facebook profile. This gives them access to your information which they then use to build your new profile.

You might want to unlink these apps from your Facebook account beforehand.

To find a list of accounts linked to your Facebook:

1. Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
2. Click on Apps and Websites from the panel on the left.
3. You can either remove these accounts from Facebook directly or unlink them from within the 3rd party applications.

Note: There is no guarantee that your data on these outside apps will remain intact after you unlink them, so think twice before you make your decision.

How to Deactivate a Facebook Account

To deactivate your account, follow these simple steps:

1. At the top right corner of your Facebook page, you'll find an upside-down menu next to the Notifications button. Click on it.
2. In the drop-down menu that follows, click on Settings & Privacy and then Settings.
3. From the Settings panel on the left side of the page, select Your Facebook Information.
4. At the bottom of the menu that follows, press Deactivation and Deletion.
5. You'll be taken to a page where you can choose between deactivating or deleting. Click on Deactivate Account.
6. On the next page, Facebook will ask you for a reason behind the deactivation. You can skip this if you want to, and move on to the next step.
7. You'll be prompted to enter your password to verify your identity.
8. Next, follow the on-screen instructions to deactivate your account.

How to Delete a Facebook Account in 6 Steps

Deleting your account means that you won't be able to access your information afterward in case you want to import it into a third-party application. So it's a good idea to download any information that you might want to use later on.

The types of data that you can download include; Posts, Pages, Messages, Events, Facebook Payments, Stories, Groups, profile Information, and many more.

To download, open Your Facebook Information page as outlined above and click on Download Your Information.

You'll be taken to a page where you can review all the information you can download. Select all the categories that you want.

Next, you'll have to choose the time range for your data, the quality of the media, and the format of your data.

Finally, click on Create File. You'll be notified when the file is ready so that you can download it from the same page.

If you're finally ready to permanently delete your account, follow these steps:

1. Head over to the Settings page from the upside-down arrow menu.
2. From the panel, click on Your Facebook Information.
3. Click on the last option, Deactivation and Deletion.
4. On the next page, select Delete Account.
5. The deletion page will first give you an option to deactivate, download your information, or edit your Group/Page Admin settings. If you're done with these, click on Delete Account.
6. You might be prompted to re-enter your password to verify your identity.

If you want to skip some of the steps above, click here to go directly to the Delete Account page. Facebook takes around 90 days to wipe all your data completely, and for the first thirty days, you can re-login to cancel the account deletion.

How to Delete a Facebook Page in 6 Steps

Deleting a page is different from deleting an account:

• You can only delete a page if you're the admin of that page.
• You only get 14 days to cancel your deletion.
• For those 14 days, your page will be visible for the public to view.

Here's how you delete a Facebook page:

1. On your Homepage, select Pages from the left panel menu.
2. Once you’re on the Pages You Manage, you'll see a list of all your Pages. Select the one you want to delete.
3. Click Settings from the Manage Page menu on your left.
4. In the General tab in Settings, select the last option, Remove Page.
5. You'll see a hyperlink that looks like Delete [Page Name]. Press on it, and you'll be prompted to confirm your choice.
6. Another prompt will notify you that your page is now in 'Deletion Mode' and will permanently be deleted after 14 days.

If you want to reactivate your page within 14 days, go to the general tab from Step 4. You'll see a banner saying your page is set to be deleted. Click on the blue hyperlink, Cancel Deletion.

How to Delete a Facebook Group in 6 Steps

Deleting a group can only be done by an admin and is an irreversible process. This is the step-by-step guide on how to delete a group on Facebook:

1. On your Homepage, select Groups from the side menu.
2. On the left panel, you'll find a list of groups that you manage. Select the one you want to delete.
3. From the group's main page, select Members.
4. Now you'll have to remove each member one-by-one until you're the only one left.
5. When you're done, click on the three dots next to your name and select Leave Group.
6. A prompt will pop up; confirm by clicking on Leave and Delete.

Note: Only the original creator of the group can delete a group unless he has left it. In that case, admins also have the right to delete. Members aren't notified when a group is deleted.

For whatever reason you have decided to move on from Facebook, we hope you find your peace of mind. Let us know on Hackernoon Community what brought you to this decision and how easy you found this guide!