Clearly, not everyone is ready to live in a post-truth world. Following Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that Meta platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads would abandon professional fact-checkers in favor of a peer-to-peer crowdfunding approach. Crowdsourcing of Community Notes to create accountability Meta account deletion searches have skyrocketed.
Searches for “how to delete Facebook” and “how to delete Instagram” peaked in the days after the announcement that accuracy was no longer a priority for posts on the platform, according to Google Trends data. Related searches such as “How to log out of Facebook,” “How to delete a thread account,” and “How to delete Instagram account without logging in” have also achieved jailbreak trend status. This means they get 5,000% or more more attention. TechCrunch points out–

Competitor Facebook has also seen an uptick in interest. Bluesky saw a nearly 1,000% increase in searches during the same period. Noting that people want to leave the social app meta-verse, Zuckerberg accused people of leaving his company's platform “Morality signaling” Maybe it's because he thinks everyone is as immoral and insensitive as they are and would never do anything unprincipled.
Alas, for those looking for a landing spot. There aren't many suitable replacements for platforms like Instagram, or Facebook for that matter. For those who want to leave the platform behind when they become after the fact AI Waste Factory–
Zuckerberg has succeeded in cornering an important part of the social web. And escaping from his clutches is difficult. Especially when it comes to convincing the people you want to connect with to follow suit, Facebook has been more successful than that. three billion Monthly active users worldwide and Instagram has two billion– Want to talk with your friends? Meta-owned WhatsApp almost has it There are three billion active chatters. And Messenger has more than that. one billion or your own Even if you delete your account or never create an account, Meta Collect information about you and Continue tracking your activity on the web. for it Large digital advertising business–
Of course, that shouldn't stop you from trying to limit your exposure to meta monsters' tentacles and, statistically speaking, they do. Since you likely got here by searching something like “how to delete Facebook,” the least we can do is give you what you're looking for. You received advice We get clicks And everyone left happy.
How to delete your Facebook account
A quick preface here: Facebook has created a maze of menus that you have to navigate to find the option to delete your account – and that maze is different. This could best be described as a deliberately inefficient user interface. It depends on the operating system, platform, and version of Facebook you're accessing.
As mentioned If you're using an iPhone or Android device:
- Click the three-bar “Menu” button at the bottom right of the Facebook app.
- Tap the “Settings and Privacy” heading.
- If “Account Center” appears in this menu, tap it. If not, tap “Settings” and the app should redirect you to “Account Center” following the pop-up explaining the function.
- Tap “Personal Information”
- Tap “Account Ownership and Control”
- Tap “Disable or Delete”
- Select the account or profile you want to delete.
- Tap “Delete Account”
- Tap “Continue” and follow the on-screen instructions to confirm.
If the Account Center appears for you You should be able to delete your Facebook and Instagram accounts simultaneously. This assumes that the two accounts are linked together.
If you're viewing Facebook on desktop, the same steps apply. Except the first step is to click your profile picture in the top-right corner. From here, search for “Settings and Privacy” and follow the same steps as above.
It doesn't matter if you're on the desktop or the mobile app. If the Account Center does not appear for you, do the following:
- Follow steps 1 and 2 above.
- Once in “Settings and Privacy,” tap “Profile Access and Control.”
- Tap “Deactivation and deletion”
- Select “Delete Account” and tap “Proceed with account deletion.”
- Follow the instructions on the screen to confirm.
How to delete your Instagram account
If your Instagram account isn't linked to your Facebook account, you can delete it separately in the iOS and Android apps by doing the following:
- Tap “Profile” or your profile picture in the lower-right corner.
-
Tap the three-bar “More” menu at the top right.
-
Tap “Account Center”
-
Tap “Personal Information”
- Tap “Account Ownership and Control”
- Tap “Disable or Delete”
- Tap the account you want to delete.
- Tap “Delete Account”
- Tap “Continue” and follow the on-screen steps to confirm.
If you're visiting Instagram on desktop, your first step is to click “More” in the lower left of the screen. Then click Settings. Then follow steps 3 to 9 above.