How To Delete Your Social Media Accounts

If you wish to delete your social media account, it's usually as simple as going into your account settings and finding the delete account option. We'll teach you how to delete your social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and more with our step-by-step guide.

How to delete your social media accounts

If you’ve decided that deleting your social media presence is the best course for you, all networking apps have ways to accomplish that goal. The steps will vary, but none of the sites make it too complicated.

Our guide will show you how to delete your information from the following popular social media accounts:

• Facebook
• Twitter (X)
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Snapchat
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Reddit
• Pinterest

The following are the most straightforward ways to delete your social media accounts through each one of these apps.

Facebook

1. On the Facebook site, go to your settings and select Settings and Privacy.
2. Click on Your Facebook Information.
3. Click on Deactivation and Deletion. Select Delete Account.
4. Click Continue to Account Deletion.
5. Enter your password and click Continue, then Delete Account.

An interesting point to note is that it still takes a couple of days for your Facebook account to be deleted. When you complete the steps above it’s considered a request, so Facebook won’t delete your account information for two or three days.

Also, you can still use your Messenger app if you’d like. That won’t reactivate your Facebook account. Conversely, if you want to delete your Messenger app, you must deactivate Facebook first. You can delete Messenger from the application settings menu.

Twitter (X)

1. Log in to your Twitter, or X, account through twitter.com.
2. Click on your profile icon and select Settings and privacy under Settings and Support.
3. Click on Your account, then click Deactivate your account.
4. Read the account deactivation information and click Deactivate.
5. Enter your password when prompted to confirm and click Deactivate again to continue.

Twitter won’t automatically delete your account. You can choose a deactivation period from 30 days to 12 months. After 30 days, your username will be removed and available for other users.

Instagram

1. On your web browser, open the Delete Your Account page and log in to Instagram.
2. Use the dropdown menu below Why do you want to delete [account name]?, and enter your password again. You must select a reason for deleting your account.
3. Click Delete [username].

After 30 days from the request date, your Instagram account and data will be permanently deleted. Like Facebook’s deactivation option, Instagram may take up to 90 days to complete the deletion process after your request.

TikTok

1. When you log in to TikTok, go to your Profile at the bottom right of the app.
2. Click the three-line icon at the top right and select Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Account > Delete account.

Your TikTok account will be deleted after 30 days of no use. Before that time, it will remain deactivated and invisible to the public.

Snapchat

1. From the internet or your Android device, go to the accounts portal and enter your username and password. If you’re using iOS, go to Settings in the Snapchat app.
2. Go to Account Actions and click Delete Account.

After your request for Snapchat account deletion, it will go into deactivation status for 30 days. After that, it will be deleted.

LinkedIn

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Go to Settings & Privacy from the dropdown menu.
3. Go to Account management under Account preferences, and click Change.
4. Enter your password and click Close account.

You may be able to reopen your account within 14 days if you change your mind. Some items will be unrecoverable, such as endorsements, invitations, and followings.

YouTube

1. Sign in to YouTube.
2. From the left sidebar, click Settings.
3. Go to Channel > Advanced Settings. At the bottom, go to Remove YouTube Content. You may be required to enter login credentials.
4. Click on I want to permanently delete my content. Check the boxes to confirm the deletion.
5. Click Delete my content.

Reddit

1. Go to reddit.com, then Account Settings. .
2. Go to the Delete Account section and click Delete Account. If you used your Google account or Apple ID to create your account, go down to Connected Accounts and click disconnect next to the Google account or Apple ID you used.

You cannot reactivate your account once it’s been deleted. Your posts and comments will remain visible unless you remove your Reddit data.

Pinterest

1. Log in to your Pinterest account.
2. Go to Settings in your menu options.
3. Click Account management and go to Account changes.
4. Click Delete account, then select Continue.
5. Choose the reason you’re leaving and click Send email to delete your account.
6. Check your email to confirm you want to close the account.

How to delete the corresponding social media apps

As mentioned above, some of these accounts require you to log in to a browser. They don’t support deletion from their mobile apps, but you can still delete the apps from your smartphone.

iPhone apps

1. Touch and hold the app you want to delete.
2. Click Remove app.
3. Tap Delete App, then click Delete to confirm.

Android apps

1. Go to your Settings and click on Apps.
2. Select the app you want to delete.
3. Click Uninstall and press OK.

You can also delete apps from your Google Play Store by tapping your account profile image, then:

1. Click on Manage apps & device.
2. Go to the Manage tab and select the app you want to delete.
3. Check the box next to the app and press the trash can icon.
4. Click Uninstall.

Should you delete, disable, or deactivate your account?

If you’ve decided to get off social media platforms, you need to know how you want to go about your plan. If you think you want to take a break and may return after a short time, you can deactivate or disable your account. Some platforms use these terms interchangeably to mean the same thing.

Alternatively, you may feel you want to remove all your personal information from social networks. If that’s the case, you probably want to delete your account. You also have other options if you have specific posts you don’t want to be shared. You can delete those old posts or adjust your privacy settings to show limited information.

Another way to remove your personal information online is by investing in a data removal service. Data removal services can find your information on data broker sites and request its removal on your behalf, saving you time and effort. Here are some recommendations for data removal services:

• DeleteMe: DeleteMe can remove your personal information from over 750 data broker sites. It also deletes your data and provides privacy reports every three months, so you can rest assured that your data stays deleted from the internet.   

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• Incogni: Incogni is a data removal service from the makers of Surfshark. It can remove your data from 180 brokers across the internet, including Google, and you get a comprehensive breakdown of the data collection as well. 

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• HelloPrivacy: HelloPrivacy scans data broker sites and collects the results for you in one place; that way, you can delete your sensitive data that's floating around the web. It even provides a free scan if you wish to test out the product or save money on data removal.  

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What to know before deleting an account

Before you hit the delete button on your social media account, be sure to save anything you would want in the future. You may have photos or websites you saved that you want to keep. When you delete your account, you lose access to that personal information. 

Some social media sites will allow you to download your data before you delete your account. If not, you can take screenshots of what you want to keep before you get rid of your account.

FAQs

Bottom line

No matter what your reason for leaving the world of social media is, it’s not an impossible task to delete those accounts when you follow our guide. Most times a few short steps take care of it, depending on the platform and device. Many of these social media sites will also give you a window of time to reactivate your account.

With so much of your personal information available online, it’s crucial to stay safe on social media. Staying or leaving social media is a personal choice, but keeping your data secure should always be a top priority. If you're looking to further enhance your privacy, you can invest in one of the best virtual private networks (VPNs).