If you deactivate your account:

• Your profile (timeline) and all information associated with it disappears from the Facebook service immediately.
• People on Facebook will not be able to search for you or view any of your information.
• We save your profile (timeline) information (friends, photos, interests, etc.), just in case you want to come back to Facebook at some point. If you choose to reactivate your account, everything will look just the way it did when you left.

A lot of people deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons and expect their profiles (timelines) to be there when they return to the service. This option gives you the flexibility to leave and come back whenever you want.

If you permanently delete your account:

• You will not be able to regain access to your account again.
• All personally identifiable information associated with it is removed from our database. This includes information like your name, email address, mailing address, and IM screen name.
• Copies of some material (photos, notes, etc.) may remain in our servers for technical reasons, but this material is disassociated from any personal identifiers and completely inaccessible to other people using Facebook.

Note: Facebook does not use content associated with accounts that have been deactivated or deleted.

To deactivate your account:

1. Click the account menu at the top right of any Facebook page
2. Choose Account Settings
3. Select Security from the left-hand menu
4. Click on "Deactivate your account"

When you deactivate your account, your profile (timeline) and all information associated with it disappears from the Facebook service immediately. People on Facebook will not be able to search for you or view any of your information.

If you’d like to come back to Facebook anytime after you’ve deactivated your account, you can reactivate your account by logging in with your email and password. Your profile (timeline) will be restored in its entirety (friends, photos, interests, etc.). Remember that you will need to have access to the login email address for your account in order to reactivate it.

If you have received a Facebook reactivation email in error, it is possible that another person has attempted to log in using your email address and password. We recommend that you reset your password to further secure your account. The password you select should be unique, complex, and kept entirely to yourself. You should also make sure that any email addresses associated with your account are secure. Remember that anyone who can read your email can probably also access your Facebook account.

We’ve noticed that this isn’t the first time you’re deactivating your account. While we want to make sure you have plenty of options, it can be confusing to your friends when you disappear. Try taking advantage of your privacy settings to control who sees your information.

If you still want to deactivate your account, next time you reactivate it you will need to wait 24 hours before logging in. Just follow the same reactivation process as before. When you log in, you will see a clock showing you how much longer you have to wait. We will also send you an email when this 24 hour period is up.

If you deactivate your account from your Security Settings page, your profile (timeline) and all information associated with it disappears from the Facebook service immediately. People on Facebook will not be able to search for you or view any of your information.

In case you want to come back to Facebook at some point, we save your profile (timeline) information (friends, photos, interests, etc.) so that your account will look just the way it did when you left. A lot of people deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons and expect their profiles (timelines) to be there when they return to the service.

If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added. If you would like your account permanently deleted with no option for recovery, log in to your account and then submit your request here.


If you are currently unable to access your account, you will need to reset your password in order to log in. In order to do so, click the "Forgot your password?" link that appears above the field where you would normally enter your password. Once you’ve followed the instructions to reset your password and can log in, you can deactivate or delete your account using the steps outlined above.

Once you have submitted a request to permanently delete your account, no further action is required on your end. Our system delays the deletion process in case you change your mind and no longer want to permanently delete your account. Note that logging in to your account again will undo a pending deletion request.

Once your account is permanently deleted, there is no way to undo this action. You will not be able to reactivate the account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added to it.

If you have an account, check your notification settings. Click Edit next to the notification types you want to receive and make sure the appropriate boxes are checked.

If you've recently received an email invitation or notification, you can also follow the unsubscribe link instructions located at the bottom of any email message from Facebook.

If you haven't received a recent email invitation or reminder, but would like to have your email address removed from Facebook's stored information, please submit a request.

When a user passes away, we memorialize their account to protect their privacy. Memorializing an account sets the account privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile (timeline) or locate it in search. Friends and family can leave posts in remembrance. Memorializing an account also prevents anyone from logging into the account.

Memorializing the account:
It is our policy to memorialize all deceased users' accounts on the site. When an account is memorialized, only confirmed friends can see the profile (timeline) or locate it in Search. The profile (timeline) will also no longer appear in the Suggestions section of the Home page. Friends and family can leave posts in remembrance.

In order to protect the privacy of the deceased user, we cannot provide login information for the account to anyone. However, once an account has been memorialized, it is completely secure and cannot be accessed or altered by anyone.

If you need to report a profile (timeline) to be memorialized, please click here.

Removing the account:
Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from the site.

Please report this information to us so we can memorialize this person’s account. Memorializing the account restricts profile (timeline) access to confirmed friends only. Learn more.

We're very sorry for any discomfort this feature has caused. The "Tag a Friend" feature identifies untagged faces in photos you have uploaded. Unfortunately, we do not have the technical ability to determine whether the person shown in the photo is deceased. As always, you have the option to delete any photo that you have uploaded to Facebook.

For further information regarding deceased individuals and memorializing accounts, please review information located in our Help Center here.

We provide people with the ability to report friends on the site who have passed away. Typically, we memorialize any deceased individuals' accounts to protect their privacy. Among other things, memorializing an account also prevents anyone from logging in to it.

If you are unable to access your personal account because it is in a special memorialized state, please click here. Please note that we will only be able to grant you access to this account if we are able to verify you are the user whose name is listed on the account.