That is exactly the process I went through a few years ago and the manipulative messaging assured me that I was making the correct decision to get as far away from FB as possible.
Dr. Robert B. Cialdini, closed off Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion with the following paragraph about organizations that manipulate us and I completely believe Facebook is one of these organizations:
"I don’t consider myself pugnacious by nature, but I actively advocate such belligerent actions because in a way I am at war with the exploiters—we all are. It is important to recognize, however, that their motive for profit is not the cause for hostilities; that motive, after all, is something we each share to an extent. The real treachery, and the thing we cannot tolerate, is any attempt to make their profit in a way that threatens the reliability of our shortcuts. The blitz of modern daily life demands that we have faithful shortcuts, sound rules of thumb to handle it all. These are not luxuries any longer; they are out-and-out necessities that figure to become increasingly vital as the pulse of daily life quickens. That is why we should want to retaliate whenever we see someone betraying one of our rules of thumb for profit. We want that rule to be as effective as possible. But to the degree that its fitness for duty is regularly undercut by the tricks of a profiteer, we naturally will use it less and will be less able to cope efficiently with the decisional burdens of our day. We cannot allow that without a fight. The stakes have gotten too high."
The company seems to have a strong culture of gaslighting and manipulating users. When I saw that screen, there were people there that definitely wouldn't miss me and who would probably be appalled that their identities were being used in that way.
When other people quit Facebook, it's likely that your photo is being presented to other users (who you may not really know) telling them that you will miss them. It's terrible.
I deleted Instagram 6 months ago. I recently came into contact with somebody in person, and they told me that they were aware I was deleting social media because Instagram told them to re-invite me back to the platform. It was this moment that I realized you're never truly out of the system. What is the point of me deleting my Instagram if I am still showing up on people's application?
This is something I've seen across the board, and have always been hesitant to say something lest I come off as "that crazy guy who feels bad because his cloud console has a frowny face next to the fact that something broke." (as a tongue-in-cheek example.) There are certainly other products I've used in recent memory that played the "we'll miss you, don't go!" game on uninstalling, but I can't pull their names off the top of my head, and I don't recall them being QUITE as blatant as to use pictures of your friends.
The amount of anthropomorphism and insertion of emotional levers into tech tools/products is something I've always had a very visceral reaction against, but at least for consumer products (and unfortunately, increasingly in the SaaS space as well) it seems to be gaining traction. I have no doubt that it _works_ from a psychological perspective, but I wonder if I'm alone in feeling offput as a user. Clearly alone enough that it doesn't move the needle in terms of efficacy, unfortunately. (unfortunately in the context of whatever weird emotional pathology I've apparently developed have with my tooling :) )
I just deleted LinkedIn as well, they flash this "All this people will miss you" and then show all the "endorsements" messages, things like: "Paulo is among the best engineers I've worked with".
OTOH sometimes I will be like "Huh, I haven't seen a post from so-and-so for quite some time now... I wonder how they are doing? What the... all trace of them is now gone? Oh well..."
My experience of deleting my Facebook account back in 2009 (and reading this the process hasn't changed) is once I finally deleted it, it was stolen by someone else within a few weeks (I'm guessing automated / bots trying to steal identities). I have a very unique name which, as far as I'm aware, is the only one in the world. What caused me to notice was friends still on Facebook who were getting this fake profile recommended as a possible connection.
Facebook ignored requests I made (submitted without having an account) that the profile was fake. I also had friends report the account for me but it still exists today - this is the fake account https://m.facebook.com/harry.fuecks - thats not my picture.
So beware - it may be more pragmatic just to deactivate your account than delete. That means Facebook gets to keep your data but at least you don't risk identify theft.
Ultimately think it's going to take regulation to solve this problem in general - it's not in Facebooks interest to make account deletion painless.
Good thing about GDPR you should be able to ask them to delete all data, while still leave your account there, deactivated, so others can't grab it. That's what my plan of action is - anyone tried that? Is it possible?
The username should just be permanently taken off the available list. This is done with other sites, I don't see why it goes back into the pool once used.
Fun fact I experienced: if you get banned for anything, there is absolutely no way to delete your account.
(It was a test account at a time I didn't even have a personal account yet. I uploaded very mild nudity¹ as a profile pic and had a friend flag me on purpose)
This is true and also illegal and against Facebook's TOS - they state regardless of any of that you can control your data. I've been complaining about FB for years and maybe its time they will start listening. Instead I write long emails that will have a guaranteed response in 24 hours and there is NEVER A RESPONSE.
A few years ago my account got disabled. When I tried to sign in it'd show a message pointing me to their Help Center if I wanted more info about why my account was banned.
After a few months passed, I tried to sign in again and it just didn't recognize my email address.
I'd assume they "remove" disabled accounts after a few months based on my experience.
Interesting, my account got disabled a few months ago and radio silence from them on why or what (appeals process seems a black hole).
In light of recent activities I’d like them to delete all data they have on me but since I’m not an EU citizen unfortunately I don’t have the GDPR to force them to do so.
Biggest problem to me is if you are a login with facebook user (or were ages ago), which is highly likely since many websites pushed it hard at the time, some like spotify requiring it. If you log back into spotify while its still deleting, even to move your account to a regular spotify account, it permanently reactivates your facebook account. You have to do all the cleanup, app deletion, etc beforehand.
If you delete your facebook account and had your spotify account associated with facebook, now you cannot login into spotify anymore with your email account. It happened to me, it's a very stupid thing, and as it seems, they (spotify) can't or wont do anyting about it..
You an migrate Spotify out of the login-with-Facebook thing. Make a new account (or I think they can do that for you too) and then ask them to migrate your stuff to the new account. They migrate most things including your followers but not followees [word?].
I’ve noticed that any online game these days (Fortnite, PUBG, as examples) either want you to link your Facebook account. With some that seems to be the only way to not have a guest account.
Wow, I had no idea there a buried option like that to really delete it.
Several years ago I read an article about how savvy teenagers and college students were calling account deactivation "Super Logout", since it was well known that deactivation was non-binding and immediately reversible at any time. If you were going to be away from your phone or computer for anything more than a few hours you would Super Logout and not have to worry about potentially embarrassing wall posts, tagged photos, tagged comments, unwelcome messages, etc.. It was all about having full control of who interacts with your account and when. I thought it was quite brilliant and I totally get why you would want to do that in the fast-paced social world of a teenager. Ever since I read that I've always laughed at people saying "I'm going to delete my account", thinking they were really deleting it. (I bet no more than a fraction, if any, ever dug up the full deletion option.) People think they are "deleting" their account while kids are literally using "deletion" as an advanced feature of the platform.
There's also no mention in the article about what Facebook does with all of the data you've surrendered to them while using the platform. Do they actually remove your history of likes and your node in the social graph?
I'm very doubtful they voluntarily delete your data.
They likely never delete anything. They simply transform you back into a "shadow profile" and keep monetizing everything they know, but conceal the data from you and the rest of the public.
I believe they always retain all data forever, as a trade secret. They don't need no stinking laws to do that.
This is a component of not requiring users to pay for premium service. When you "create an account" you're simply "activating/linking/merging" one of your shadow profiles to your IRL identity (or not-so-IRL personas), which (possibly) has always existed (long before you showed up), claiming it as yours, and publicly exposing whatever Facebook is willing to show you that they know about you/that persona/whoever.
Always wondered if its worth trying to delete all your data before deleting your facebook- or if deleting both does the same thing. They're supposed to delete data in 30 days but in the 2012-2013 days people proved the links to content were still up and photos/etc were all up.
Does anyone think these services actually delete all of your data, or just use a "deleted" flag on the database, keeping all of your info making it look like you're "deleted" but not allowing you to use it any longer? My vote is the 2nd one.
The mobile site makes this way, way, way easier. You literally just have to enter your password and the deed is done: https://m.facebook.com/account/delete
I just reactivated my deactivated account to delete it.
How do I know if my account is deleted? I did it years ago but every few months I get a suspect email about, "looks like you're having trouble logging in. Let us help you get back on Facebook." Which makes me think it's not actually deleted.
Even though this user says he couldn't find the link to delete your account, it is on two of his screen shots with the label "Request account deletion"
Edit: I guess the text above makes this link confusing. Go FB.
I deleted (not deactivated) a Facebook account that I had from high school to sophomore year of college.
A year or two later I made a new one and didn't fill out anything except my name and didn't add any friends (yet). Almost immediately facebook started suggesting friends, groups, etc that existed on my deleted account.
tl;dr nothing is every really "deleted," just hidden
Yeah. The authors don't want you to delete your facebook. They want you to share their article on your facebook (it's right there at the top of the page!).
The people/person who wrote the article seem desperate for you to not follow the directions. They want you to go to Facebook and starting sharing and liking content right away. They just want your money.
I went so far as to edit all comments give blank, remove all likes and untag all images before deleting. This was years ago, but I’m glad others are seeing the same issues and reacting appropriately.
Thanks for this post. I thought I deleted my Facebook four years ago only to read this and find out it still existed. IIRC back then it said something about deletion after a set period of inactivity.
I don't think Facebook is being ethical by making people wait to delete their account. Thought experiment:
Suppose John owns a room. John's room is occupied at full capacity, 24/7. People mingle in the room, sometimes they trade with each other. Assume John is never present in the room at any time. John decides to install a camera and microphone in the room. John analyzes the data in order help increase the quantity of trades in the room, through which John makes a considerable commission. Later, someone asks him to delete the data he has on them. John says he will only delete the data after 90 days, and if the person takes a step in the room within 14 days, they will not have their data deleted.
So why are John's friends using the living room so frequently yet without having any contact with him? Maybe you find that question to be pedantic given the bigger picture you're ostensibly addressing. But trying to imagine the answers would make it obvious why your hypothetical situation doesn't really apply to reality.
For starters, your scenario involves a surveillance camera, but in the next sentence, you ask us to imagine that the friends haven't given any permission. Permission for what exactly?
One weakness of the way you’ve described this: John isn’t getting a commission on trades between the minglers, he gets a commission by the things he blares on the TVs in the room.
I deleted Facebook before it was cool. They wouldn't stop sending me "Won't you please come back" emails until I made a formal complaint about the spam to the Australian Communications and Media Authority. No more emails.
I was on there just a few days ago to find out what my elderly aunts were up to. Crickets. They hadn't posted anything for three years.
[+] [-] dade_|8 years ago|reply
Dr. Robert B. Cialdini, closed off Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion with the following paragraph about organizations that manipulate us and I completely believe Facebook is one of these organizations:
"I don’t consider myself pugnacious by nature, but I actively advocate such belligerent actions because in a way I am at war with the exploiters—we all are. It is important to recognize, however, that their motive for profit is not the cause for hostilities; that motive, after all, is something we each share to an extent. The real treachery, and the thing we cannot tolerate, is any attempt to make their profit in a way that threatens the reliability of our shortcuts. The blitz of modern daily life demands that we have faithful shortcuts, sound rules of thumb to handle it all. These are not luxuries any longer; they are out-and-out necessities that figure to become increasingly vital as the pulse of daily life quickens. That is why we should want to retaliate whenever we see someone betraying one of our rules of thumb for profit. We want that rule to be as effective as possible. But to the degree that its fitness for duty is regularly undercut by the tricks of a profiteer, we naturally will use it less and will be less able to cope efficiently with the decisional burdens of our day. We cannot allow that without a fight. The stakes have gotten too high."
[+] [-] mercer|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoshMnem|8 years ago|reply
The company seems to have a strong culture of gaslighting and manipulating users. When I saw that screen, there were people there that definitely wouldn't miss me and who would probably be appalled that their identities were being used in that way.
When other people quit Facebook, it's likely that your photo is being presented to other users (who you may not really know) telling them that you will miss them. It's terrible.
[+] [-] varrock|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] existencebox|8 years ago|reply
The amount of anthropomorphism and insertion of emotional levers into tech tools/products is something I've always had a very visceral reaction against, but at least for consumer products (and unfortunately, increasingly in the SaaS space as well) it seems to be gaining traction. I have no doubt that it _works_ from a psychological perspective, but I wonder if I'm alone in feeling offput as a user. Clearly alone enough that it doesn't move the needle in terms of efficacy, unfortunately. (unfortunately in the context of whatever weird emotional pathology I've apparently developed have with my tooling :) )
[+] [-] chaoticmass|8 years ago|reply
And then I couldn't remember the last time I interacted with any of them on facebook and went ahead with my deletion.
Pure emotional manipulation.
[+] [-] r00fus|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scardine|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ythn|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harryf|8 years ago|reply
Facebook ignored requests I made (submitted without having an account) that the profile was fake. I also had friends report the account for me but it still exists today - this is the fake account https://m.facebook.com/harry.fuecks - thats not my picture.
So beware - it may be more pragmatic just to deactivate your account than delete. That means Facebook gets to keep your data but at least you don't risk identify theft.
Ultimately think it's going to take regulation to solve this problem in general - it's not in Facebooks interest to make account deletion painless.
[+] [-] kerng|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] overcast|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fiftyacorn|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anotheryou|8 years ago|reply
(It was a test account at a time I didn't even have a personal account yet. I uploaded very mild nudity¹ as a profile pic and had a friend flag me on purpose)
¹ http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/painti... (slightly NSFW)
[+] [-] rhacker|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GranPC|8 years ago|reply
After a few months passed, I tried to sign in again and it just didn't recognize my email address.
I'd assume they "remove" disabled accounts after a few months based on my experience.
[+] [-] indemnity|8 years ago|reply
In light of recent activities I’d like them to delete all data they have on me but since I’m not an EU citizen unfortunately I don’t have the GDPR to force them to do so.
[+] [-] rhizome|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] phyzome|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taurath|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jventura|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoshMnem|8 years ago|reply
That's why I never used spotify.
[+] [-] mehrdadn|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] khuknows|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wincy|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simlevesque|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nosuchthing|8 years ago|reply
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyimages/1390.jpg
[+] [-] jzl|8 years ago|reply
Several years ago I read an article about how savvy teenagers and college students were calling account deactivation "Super Logout", since it was well known that deactivation was non-binding and immediately reversible at any time. If you were going to be away from your phone or computer for anything more than a few hours you would Super Logout and not have to worry about potentially embarrassing wall posts, tagged photos, tagged comments, unwelcome messages, etc.. It was all about having full control of who interacts with your account and when. I thought it was quite brilliant and I totally get why you would want to do that in the fast-paced social world of a teenager. Ever since I read that I've always laughed at people saying "I'm going to delete my account", thinking they were really deleting it. (I bet no more than a fraction, if any, ever dug up the full deletion option.) People think they are "deleting" their account while kids are literally using "deletion" as an advanced feature of the platform.
[+] [-] just_steve_h|8 years ago|reply
I'm very doubtful they voluntarily delete your data.
[+] [-] woweeeee|8 years ago|reply
I believe they always retain all data forever, as a trade secret. They don't need no stinking laws to do that.
This is a component of not requiring users to pay for premium service. When you "create an account" you're simply "activating/linking/merging" one of your shadow profiles to your IRL identity (or not-so-IRL personas), which (possibly) has always existed (long before you showed up), claiming it as yours, and publicly exposing whatever Facebook is willing to show you that they know about you/that persona/whoever.
[+] [-] beedrillzzzzz|8 years ago|reply
Facebook needs to clarify what actually happens to data.
[+] [-] notananthem|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cronix|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] subway|8 years ago|reply
I just reactivated my deactivated account to delete it.
[+] [-] wwayer|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Waterluvian|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rhacker|8 years ago|reply
Edit: I guess the text above makes this link confusing. Go FB.
[+] [-] eknkc|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] BlueGh0st|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Wazzymandias|8 years ago|reply
I deleted (not deactivated) a Facebook account that I had from high school to sophomore year of college.
A year or two later I made a new one and didn't fill out anything except my name and didn't add any friends (yet). Almost immediately facebook started suggesting friends, groups, etc that existed on my deleted account.
tl;dr nothing is every really "deleted," just hidden
[+] [-] dgritsko|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cryptoz|8 years ago|reply
The people/person who wrote the article seem desperate for you to not follow the directions. They want you to go to Facebook and starting sharing and liking content right away. They just want your money.
[+] [-] givinguflac|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 7granddad|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] makkesk8|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anonytrary|8 years ago|reply
Suppose John owns a room. John's room is occupied at full capacity, 24/7. People mingle in the room, sometimes they trade with each other. Assume John is never present in the room at any time. John decides to install a camera and microphone in the room. John analyzes the data in order help increase the quantity of trades in the room, through which John makes a considerable commission. Later, someone asks him to delete the data he has on them. John says he will only delete the data after 90 days, and if the person takes a step in the room within 14 days, they will not have their data deleted.
Is John's behavior ethical?
[+] [-] danso|8 years ago|reply
For starters, your scenario involves a surveillance camera, but in the next sentence, you ask us to imagine that the friends haven't given any permission. Permission for what exactly?
[+] [-] traviscj|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrlyc|8 years ago|reply
I was on there just a few days ago to find out what my elderly aunts were up to. Crickets. They hadn't posted anything for three years.