Last weekend I woke up to an email from Facebook that caught my attention. I thought I had deleted my Facebook account(s) at the end of 2023, but apparently I had missed one and still have an old account.
I am recording my email exchange with Facebook to get it deleted—which is proving more difficult that I previously thought it would.
Saturday 1st of June, 2024
Sent: 1st of June, 2024From: Facebook <notification@facebookmail.com>To: Andrew RoffeySubject: We’re updating our Privacy Policy as we expand AI at MetaHi Andrew,
We’re getting ready to expand our AI at Meta experiences to your region. AI at Meta is our collection of generative AI features and experiences, like Meta AI and AI Creative Tools, along with the models that power them.
What this means for you
To help bring these experiences to you, we'll now rely on the legal basis called legitimate interests for using your information to develop and improve AI at Meta. This means you have the right to object to how your information is used for these purposes. If your objection is honored, it will be applied going forward.
We’re including updates in our Privacy Policy to reflect these changes. The updates go into effect on June 26, 2024.
Thanks,
The Meta Privacy team
Sunday 2nd of June, 2024
I decided to try logging into the old account to delete it. I didn't have any passwords on file so I decided to use the Forgot your password feature. I tried on both my desktop and laptop, but got errors saying "You're Temporarily Blocked" and "it's not safe for us to let you log in" respectively.
I looked up the Facebook privacy policy and followed the link to the form to contact them. They sent an automated email to me which prompted me to respond via email.
Sent: 2nd of June, 2024From: FacebookTo: Andrew RoffeySubject: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Hi,
Thanks for contacting us about how to exercise your Privacy Rights.
Access your Information:
As a Facebook user, you can access your Facebook information using our self-service tools. To get specific types of your Facebook information, such as photos, posts, reactions and comments, visit the Access Your Information or Download Your Information tools.
To learn more about the categories of your Facebook Information available to you, please visit the Help Center: https://www.facebook.com/help/930396167085762/?ref=cr .
Download your Information:
You can download a copy of information you've provided to Facebook using the Download Your Information tool.
Port your information:
You can transfer a copy of information you created and shared on Facebook to other services using the Transfer Your Information tool.
Delete your information or account:
We offer tools you can use to delete certain information on your Facebook account at any time. For example, you can use Delete buttons to delete content you’ve posted to your account. You can also use tools like Activity Log on Facebook to send content to the trash in bulk. When you delete content, it’s no longer visible to other users.
To learn more about how to delete content on Facebook, please visit the following Help Center article:
https://www.facebook.com/help/505287739528816?ref=cr
To learn what happens when you delete content or move it to trash, please visit the following Help Center:
https://www.facebook.com/help/356107851084108?ref=dp
You can also delete your account at any time, to learn more about this, please visit the Facebook Settings:
https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=your_facebook_information
Please note that once your account is permanently deleted, you won’t be able to reactivate it, and you won’t be able to retrieve that information later, including content you’ve posted. If you don't want to delete your account but want to temporarily stop using it, you can deactivate your account instead:
https://www.facebook.com/help/214376678584711?ref=cr
We also encourage you to review our Privacy Policy (https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy) to learn more about our data practices.
If you have more questions about how to exercise your privacy rights, please reply to this message.
Thanks,
Privacy Operations
Sent: 2nd of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
I'd like to delete my account.
I tried logging in to delete my account but I got a message which said "Log in to another device to continue". I tried my other device but it said something had gone wrong.
Regards
Andrew
Monday 3rd of June, 2024
Sent: 3rd of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHello,
Can I please get a response on this? I'd like to delete my account but unable to do so via the UI.
Regards
Andrew
Tuesday 4th of June, 2024
Sent: 4th of June, 2024From: FacebookTo: Andrew RoffeySubject: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Thank you for contacting us.
It looks like you’re asking about a Facebook account that’s linked to a different email address than the one you used to file this request. In order to process your request, we need you to file a report from the email that’s associated with the Facebook account you’re asking about.
If you have a Facebook account associated with a different email address, please submit a new report using that email address.
Once you do this, we should be able to further assist you.
Thanks,
Privacy Operations
Sent: 4th of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Thanks, and apologies. I forgot to change my sender to my old email. Replying as REDACTED.
Regards
Andrew
Wednesday 5th of June, 2024
Unsure of whether Facebook would respond to my original request, I decided to file a new request.
Sent: 5th of June, 2024From: FacebookTo: Andrew RoffeySubject: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Hi,
Thanks for contacting us about how to exercise your Privacy Rights.
Access your Information:
As a Facebook user, you can access your Facebook information using our self-service tools. To get specific types of your Facebook information, such as photos, posts, reactions and comments, visit the Access Your Information or Download Your Information tools.
To learn more about the categories of your Facebook Information available to you, please visit the Help Center: https://www.facebook.com/help/930396167085762/?ref=cr .
Download your Information:
You can download a copy of information you've provided to Facebook using the Download Your Information tool.
Port your information:
You can transfer a copy of information you created and shared on Facebook to other services using the Transfer Your Information tool.
Delete your information or account:
We offer tools you can use to delete certain information on your Facebook account at any time. For example, you can use Delete buttons to delete content you’ve posted to your account. You can also use tools like Activity Log on Facebook to send content to the trash in bulk. When you delete content, it’s no longer visible to other users.
To learn more about how to delete content on Facebook, please visit the following Help Center article:
https://www.facebook.com/help/505287739528816?ref=cr
To learn what happens when you delete content or move it to trash, please visit the following Help Center:
https://www.facebook.com/help/356107851084108?ref=dp
You can also delete your account at any time, to learn more about this, please visit the Facebook Settings:
https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=your_facebook_information
Please note that once your account is permanently deleted, you won’t be able to reactivate it, and you won’t be able to retrieve that information later, including content you’ve posted. If you don't want to delete your account but want to temporarily stop using it, you can deactivate your account instead:
https://www.facebook.com/help/214376678584711?ref=cr
We also encourage you to review our Privacy Policy (https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy) to learn more about our data practices.
If you have more questions about how to exercise your privacy rights, please reply to this message.
Thanks,
Privacy Operations
Sent: 5th of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
I'd like to delete my account.
I tried logging in to delete my account but I got a message which said "Log in to another device to continue". I tried my other device but it said something had gone wrong.
Regards
Andrew
Facebook replied to my original request after this point:
Sent: 5th of June, 2024From: FacebookTo: Andrew RoffeySubject: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Thank you for contacting us.
We have reviewed your report and it appears you would like to delete your Facebook account.
Please note, for security reasons, we are unable to delete accounts on behalf of users so you will need to log into your account and delete it yourself. We have put in place a very quick and easy process for people to schedule the permanent deletion of their account.
Please follow the steps outlined in the following Help Center article to permanently delete your account: https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674?ref=cr
If you're having a problem logging in, please visit the Help Center:
https://www.facebook.com/help/283100488694834
Before permanently deleting your account, you may want to log in and download a copy of your information from Facebook. Once your account has been deleted, it cannot be recovered.
Regards,
Privacy Operations
Sent: 5th of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
I am currently unable to log in to my account to delete it myself, as advised.
I checked the Help Center and it did not help me.
I have attached screenshots showing my actions to attempt to login and delete my account since Sunday 02/06/2024. All actions have resulted in an error.
Please advise the next steps, I still wish to delete my account and it is up to Facebook to provide a working mechanism to do this.
Regards
Andrew
Attachments:
account-recovery-20240602-desktop.png
Thursday 6th of June, 2024
Sent: 6th of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Can I please get a response on this? I am unable to log into my account to delete it myself as Facebook's UI is returning me cryptic and unhelpful errors when I try to do so.
Regards
Andrew
Friday 7th of June, 2024
Sent: 7th of June, 2024From: FacebookTo: Andrew RoffeySubject: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Thank you for contacting us.
Please reply to this email providing an email address you want to be associated with your account.
Please note, the new email should not be associated with any account present or past. Once we receive the new email address from you, our specialist team may follow up with additional requests for information or documentation.
Thanks,
Privacy Operations
Sent: 7th of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Why is this required for deleting my account? That doesn't make any sense.
Regards
Andrew
Saturday 8th of June, 2024
Sent: 8th of June, 2024From: FacebookTo: Andrew RoffeySubject: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Thank you for your response.
However, It seems that you have not provided a valid email as previously requested.
Please reply to this email providing a new email that should not be associated with any account present or past. We are unable to proceed further without the requested information.
Once we receive the new email address from you, our specialist team may follow up with additional requests for information or documentation.
Thanks,
Privacy Operations
Sent: 8th of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
Could you please provide a reason/justification for collecting a new email address in order to delete my account?
Regards
Andrew
Wednesday 12th of June, 2024
Sent: 12th of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
I'm writing to complain about the handling of my personal information by Facebook.
I believe have an account registered with email address REDACTED, full name Andrew Roffey.
On Sunday the 2nd of June, 10 days ago, I tried to delete my account but was unable to do so. I then raised support case REDACTED requesting deletion of my account. Facebook requested a new email address from me, without reason, and did not respond to my questions about it.
Under Australia's Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) sch 11 cl 11 Facebook must delete or de-identify information once it is no longer required for a specific purpose under the Australian Privacy Principles. I believe that Facebook is required to delete my account as it is no longer required.
To resolve this matter, I would like the following:
(1) Deletion of my Facebook account
(2) Facebook's account deletion processes via support to be more clear, transparent, reasoned and timely—in my case, the request for a new email address must be reasoned (why was this required for deleting my account) and transparent (provided to me when it was requested); this case should have also been more timely than it has been so far.
If I do not receive a response from Facebook within a reasonable time (generally 30 days) or the complaint is not resolved, I may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to make a privacy complaint.
Regards
Andrew
Friday 21st of June, 2024
Sent: 21st of June, 2024From: Andrew RoffeyTo: FacebookSubject: Re: Privacy Policy QuestionsHi,
I'm still awaiting a response on this.
Is there any path forward to get my account deleted?
Also, can I please get a confirmation that I'm talking to a human?
Regards
Andrew