Right after new year's, I've decided to start a process of "social media detox": one of my 2019 goals is to find more time left to read, study and watch movies.



Of course social networks are main candidates to get excluded from my daily routine, without excluding privacy implication!
So, let's start with the king of social networks/privacy invaders: Facebook!


Why should I delete Facebook?

I suggest to read this page on Richard Stallman's website: there are many reasons, so i try to summarize them.

Privacy and personal data

Facebook buys personal data from various data brokers, and correlates that with what it figures out directly about its useds: actually advises users that they can tell the data brokers to stop collecting data about them, but it doesn't ensure that this really works.

Facebook stores a huge amount of data on each user:

  • The time and location of every Facebook login
  • All audio messages the used has sent or received through Facebook
  • Every file the used has sent or received through Facebook

Finally, Facebook routinely tracks users, non-users and logged-out users outside its platform through the Facebook Software Development Kit (SDK), a set of software development tools that help developers build apps for a specific operating system.
A report of most famous android apps that uses this SDK has been published by Privacy International: Investigating Apps interactions with Facebook on Android

Addiction

Facebook can be a major time waste with a lot of time spent lost in the daily dramas of people you barely know?
It's easy to get sucked into reading trivial updates from Facebook friends and checking out people you wish you knew better.

Censorship

Facebook has frequently removed postings about protests (both planned and ongoing), political satire, and various political.
Furthermore, Facebook has developed software to allow various countries to directly control censorship of what useds in that country can see (like this).


How do I permanently delete my Facebook account?

Simply refer to this help page:

  • Click on the down arrow icon at the top right of any Facebook page.
  • Click Settings.
  • Click Your Facebook Information in the left column.
  • Click Delete Your Account and Information, then click Delete My Account.
  • Enter your password, click Continue and then click Delete Account.

Note: If you permanently delete your Facebook account you won't be able to reactivate it, and your profile, photos, posts, videos, and everything else you've added will be (probably) permanently deleted.

So i suggest, before starting deletion process, to request a copy of your account, using this procedure.

Further, you'll no longer be able to use Facebook Messenger and Facebook Login for other apps you may have signed up for with your Facebook account.


References