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You may think your social media networks have become an addiction, want your free time back, or you plan to detox from social media use and focus on your mental health. If you wish to delete your social media account, it's usually as simple as going into your account settings and finding the delete account option.
Limits public access to your information and protects your data from theft
Sends removal requests on your behalf
Tracks and repeats removal requests if needed
We'll teach you how to delete your social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and more with our step-by-step guide.
If you’ve decided that deleting your social media presence is the best course for you, all networking apps have ways to accomplish that goal. The steps will vary, but none of the sites make it too complicated.
Our guide will show you how to delete your information from the following popular social media accounts:
The following are the most straightforward ways to delete your social media accounts through each one of these apps.
An interesting point to note is that it still takes a couple of days for your Facebook account to be deleted. When you complete the steps above it’s considered a request, so Facebook won’t delete your account information for two or three days.
Also, you can still use your Messenger app if you’d like. That won’t reactivate your Facebook account. Conversely, if you want to delete your Messenger app, you must deactivate Facebook first. You can delete Messenger from the application settings menu.
Twitter won’t automatically delete your account. You can choose a deactivation period from 30 days to 12 months. After 30 days, your username will be removed and available for other users.
After 30 days from the request date, your Instagram account and data will be permanently deleted. Like Facebook’s deactivation option, Instagram may take up to 90 days to complete the deletion process after your request.
Your TikTok account will be deleted after 30 days of no use. Before that time, it will remain deactivated and invisible to the public.
After your request for Snapchat account deletion, it will go into deactivation status for 30 days. After that, it will be deleted.
You may be able to reopen your account within 14 days if you change your mind. Some items will be unrecoverable, such as endorsements, invitations, and followings.
You cannot reactivate your account once it’s been deleted. Your posts and comments will remain visible unless you remove your Reddit data.
As mentioned above, some of these accounts require you to log in to a browser. They don’t support deletion from their mobile apps, but you can still delete the apps from your smartphone.
You can also delete apps from your Google Play Store by tapping your account profile image, then:
If you’ve decided to get off social media platforms, you need to know how you want to go about your plan. If you think you want to take a break and may return after a short time, you can deactivate or disable your account. Some platforms use these terms interchangeably to mean the same thing.
Alternatively, you may feel you want to remove all your personal information from social networks. If that’s the case, you probably want to delete your account. You also have other options if you have specific posts you don’t want to be shared. You can delete those old posts or adjust your privacy settings to show limited information.
Another way to remove your personal information online is by investing in a data removal service. Data removal services can find your information on data broker sites and request its removal on your behalf, saving you time and effort. Here are some recommendations for data removal services:
Before you hit the delete button on your social media account, be sure to save anything you would want in the future. You may have photos or websites you saved that you want to keep. When you delete your account, you lose access to that personal information. Some social media sites will allow you to download your data before you delete your account. If not, you can take screenshots of what you want to keep before you get rid of your account.
You can stop social media without deleting it if you want to take a short break by deactivating or disabling your account. By choosing this option, you give yourself time to step away and still have all your data when you’re ready to reactivate the account.
You can remove social media from your iPhone by removing the app. You will still have your account, but the app will be gone from your device, which may help give you a break from going into the account.
If you feel you should give up social media, that’s a personal decision only you can make. Some people find it helpful to do a social media detox and get some space from various platforms for a specific time.
There are many reasons to delete your social media account. You may feel it makes you less productive or that you want to be more present with your family and friends. Sometimes the negativity on social media makes people feel more anxious, and a short reprieve helps them feel more grounded.
No matter what your reason for leaving the world of social media is, it’s not an impossible task to delete those accounts when you follow our guide. Most times a few short steps take care of it, depending on the platform and device. Many of these social media sites will also give you a window of time to reactivate your account.
With so much of your personal information available online, it’s crucial to stay safe on social media. Staying or leaving social media is a personal choice, but keeping your data secure should always be a top priority. If you're looking to further enhance your privacy, you can invest in one of the best virtual private networks (VPNs).
Ultra-secure, high-speed VPN complete with malware protection and automatic blocking of intrusive ads and third-party trackers
Other benefits include a premium password manager, dark web monitoring, and access to IP-restricted content
3 plans to choose from for custom protection on up to 10 devices
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