Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
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.
The following instructions are for the web version of Facebook, but you can follow pretty much the same sequence on the mobile app.
Download your archives
Your Facebook archives contain just about all of the pertinent information related to your account, including your photos, active sessions, chat history, IP addresses, facial recognition data, and which ads you clicked. That’s personal information you should save.
Click on your personal icon in the upper-right corner.
Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings.
Click on the Accounts Center box on the left.
Screenshot: Meta
The Accounts Center is where you can both download your info and delete your account.
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…
