How to permanently delete your Facebook account

Facebook can be a great tool for staying in touch with friends and family but, for some people, the constant bombardment of updates, messages, likes, pokes and advertisements can all become a bit overwhelming.

Ongoing questions over user Facebook's privacy practices – including a class action lawsuit in Austria involving 25,000 users that claim Facebook illegally tracked users’ browsing habits via software installed on other web pages, and participated in “Prism”, the American spy programme – are also making some people reconsider their membership of the social network.

If you've had enough and want to get rid of your account, you have two options. You can either deactivate you account, which means your profile disappears from the social network but all the information in your account is saved on Facebook's servers in case you decide yo go back, or you can permanently delete your account, which means all your data is removed and you will not be able to regain access.

Depending on whether or not you think you might want to return, here's what you need to do:

How to deactivate your account

Deactivating your account temporarily means you have the option to return to Facebook whenever you want.

1. Click the downward arrow at the top right of any Facebook page
2. Select "Settings"
3. Click "Security" in the left column
4. Choose "Deactivate your account", then follow the steps to confirm

If you deactivate your account your profile won’t be visible to other people on Facebook and people won’t be able to search for you, but some information, such as messages you sent to friends, may still be visible to others.
If decide you'd like to go back to Facebook, you can reactivate your account at any time by logging in with your email and password. Your profile will be restored in its entirety.
Are you fed up with Facebook?  Photo: Alamy

How to permanently delete your account

If you don't think you'll use Facebook again, you can request to have your account permanently deleted. However, after an account has been deleted it won't be possible to reactivate your account or retrieve anything you've shared on your profile.
Before you do this, you may want to download a copy of your information from Facebook:

1. Click the downward arrow at the top right of any Facebook page
2. Select "Settings"
3. Click on the link at the bottom of the main menu that says “Download a copy of your Facebook data”.

Then you need to go to https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account, click on "Delete my account", then follow the steps to confirm.
It may take up to 90 days for Facebook to delete all of the things you've posted, like your photos, status updates or other data stored in backup systems. While Facebook is deleting this information, it is inaccessible to other people using the social network.
Some of the things you do on Facebook aren’t stored in your account. For example, a friend may still have messages from you in their inbox. That information will remain even after you delete your account, so you will need to contact the recipients of you want it removed.