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I don't trust Facebook's new privacy settings and have decided to delete my account, but I can't find the kill switch.

Does anyone know how I can delete my Facebook account?

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36  
I love that this made it as the first question on the site. – squillman Jul 1 '10 at 16:00
3  
What is so bad about their privacy? – Boris_yo Feb 2 '12 at 23:25
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@Boris_yo What is not so bad about their privacy? – Pacerier Mar 31 '12 at 17:57

3 Answers

up vote 60 down vote accepted

from here:

Go here: http://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account

Click "Submit" and follow the instructions.

Your account will be deactivated for two weeks, and if you DO NOT USE FACEBOOK IN ANY WAY during that period, your account is permanently deleted.

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7  
What if other sites, like CNet have you setup via Facebook Connect, will visiting c|net count as using it within that two week period? – Darren Newton Jun 30 '10 at 20:41
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Good point. I think so, as long as you get connected to Facebook, your account is reactivated. – Victor Stanciu Jun 30 '10 at 20:58
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Clear your cookies and Facebook Connect won't know who you are on another site unless you explicitly log in again. – Craig Jul 9 '10 at 1:37
up vote 9 down vote

Go to "Your Account". Go to "Deactivate Account".

Facebook is a megalomaniac. It will never ever ever EVER delete your profile. If you decide ten years later to sign in, then it will still be there. I'd erase my pictures from the site before deleting my account.

Actually, I just did last week.

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8  
Do you have proof to back up your statement that "It will never ever ever EVER delete your profile. If you decide ten years later to sign in, then it will still be there." – Stefan Lasiewski Jul 12 '10 at 21:53
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I'll let you know in 10 years. – sirlancelot Jul 12 '10 at 23:43
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Hah well... the proof that I have is that after a year of a deactivated previous account, the same sign in information registered me back into their system and my profile was salvaged as it was when I left it. So. Megalomaniac. Yes. – AdelheidK Jul 13 '10 at 1:59
@Stefan Just ask the Archive.org ;-) – Ivo Flipse Jul 13 '10 at 20:11
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@Ivo: archive.org says "We're sorry, access to facebook.com has been blocked by the site owner via robots.txt. " – Stefan Lasiewski Jul 14 '10 at 19:12
up vote 2 down vote

It is not neccessary to go through the deactivation 2 week wait, you can delete your account directly at:

www.facebook.com/help/delete_account

If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, we can take care of this for you. Keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added.

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Even though it says this, you have to read further: What happens when my account has a pending deletion request? ... "Once you have submitted a request to permanently delete your account, no further action is required on your end. Our system delays the deletion process in case you change your mind and no longer want to permanently delete your account. Note that logging in to your account again will undo a pending deletion request." – Kevin Fegan Jan 21 at 7:40

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