Facebook Stores User Data for 180 Days After Account Deletion, Report Finds

A recent report from Incogni sheds light on the cybersecurity practices of social media platforms, revealing some concerning trends. The study evaluated platforms based on several factors:

• User Friendliness: How simple it is to navigate the privacy policies and the ease of deleting an account.

• Data Collection & Retention: The amount of data platforms gather and how long they keep it, which has implications for data privacy, targeted advertising, and security risks.

• Transgressions: The number of data breaches and government fines imposed on each platform.

• Transparency: The extent to which user data is shared with governments and how accessible features are for users.

• User Control & Consent: The strength of privacy settings, default options, and how visible opt-out settings are.

The report highlights that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger, which are all owned by Meta, retain user data for 180 days even after users delete their accounts. This data includes personal photos, videos, messages, and sensitive information like financial or health records, remaining in the platform’s database for months.

Other social platforms have shorter retention periods: WhatsApp, Reddit, and Twitch store data for 90 days; Snapchat for 60 days; and TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) for 30 days. The most privacy-conscious service is Telegram, which deletes user data within 24 hours.

Risks of Data Retention Holding onto data for 180 days poses potential risks, as users may still be vulnerable to data breaches or privacy leaks long after they’ve stopped using a platform. This long retention period leaves users' information exposed to unforeseen security incidents, even though they believe they've severed ties with the service.

How Easy Is It to Delete an Account? Deleting a social media account is not always as simple as it seems. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook Messenger require users to go through six steps just to complete the deletion process. This raises questions about how accessible these platforms make it for users to control their privacy.

Data Breaches and Government Fines While social media provides immense value to its users, it also comes with significant risks. Since 2012, LinkedIn has been the victim of four major data breaches, with Facebook and X each experiencing two. Twitch, a popular live-streaming platform, has faced one breach during the same time period.

The report also reviewed government fines issued to social platforms due to their failure to meet data privacy regulations. Facebook has been fined eight times since 2011, while WhatsApp has received five fines. Other platforms like X and TikTok have also faced penalties, receiving four fines each. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitch have all been fined at least once.