Why When I Delete Posts on Facebook Do the Exact Post Show Up Again

Sometimes we want to delete our Facebook history – possibly just pieces of it, or maybe everything. Mayhap you lot just want to start fresh, or yous're simply distrusting of Facebook with your data and want to go rid of old posts.

Y'all'd hope that by clicking delete, your content is permanently removed. Patently, that'due south not quite the case. New show suggests that Facebook might not actually be deleting the posts you think you're getting rid of. In fact, sometimes these deleted Facebook posts are reappearing.

A few users have discovered merely how persistent Facebook has been. Laura (who withheld her last proper noun) deleted her Facebook posts "one-past-one" in February 2012, fearful of the repercussions that Facebook's new Timeline (at the time) might bring. In October of that twelvemonth, she logged into Facebook to discover that all of her Timeline content had been restored.

It's non unreasonable to assume that this effect was a bug, but after the 2nd time effectually when Laura had in one case again painstakingly deleted all her content, she grew more suspicious. "I deleted all my posts, likes and comments. I also deleted all my photos and albums except two profile photos," Laura explains, telling u.s.a. that her profile was clean with the exception of two photographs and a few basic personal details from the About section. Returning to her Facebook account months later, she discovered this month that her deleted posts popped upwardly one time again.

Scarier yet is the fact that this isn't an isolate incident. There are other Facebook users who accept encountered the very aforementioned scenario, with their deleted posts coming dorsum to them. As well, at that place was an incident in which old posts were resurrected to the top of your contour as well. A lawsuit was filed against Facebook in Ireland in 2011 for this exact issue:

"Almost one-half a yr to a yr ago I decided that I wanted to delete every bit much of my personal data as possible on my facebook folio. I used an automatic routine that automatically clicked on all "X"-buttons (labeled "remove post") on my Facebook page. The following prompt clearly states that the content gets "deleted" (run across zipper 03). After the routine was running for a while, all content was gone. From this indicate on I was continuously deleting all new content manually. In ii or iii cases former content kept coming back to my wall after I deleted information technology weeks earlier."

Facebook's Terms and Weather shed some light on why its users are experiencing restored content:

"When yous delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer," the Terms and Conditions folio states. "However, y'all understand that removed content may persist in fill-in copies for a reasonable period of time (only volition not exist available to others)."

Even Facebook admits that your content is really still in that location even if yous've technically deleted it. However the content popping upwardly for a second fourth dimension for a tertiary circular of deleting is unexpected.

We reached out to Facebook nearly the issue, whose representative just pointed out Facebook's Terms and Conditions page, and highlighted the fact that that when you actually delete content on Facebook, it but goes abroad if it's permanently deleted – which is catchy. The problem with permanently deleting anything on Facebook is the fact that nada is really seemingly deleted. Simply simply "deleting" content stores the content to a backup Facebook drive temporarily. As Facebook puts it:

"Some of this data is permanently deleted from our servers; yet, some things can only exist deleted when you permanently delete your account."

Deleting your entire account works in a similar manner. Users can "delete" their accounts; however accessing the account again reactivates the account.

They also made sure to point out that the upshot may stem from a problems on Laura's profile folio, but couldn't be certain without checking out her account. Facebook engineers yet are on the example, and on a preliminary look suggested that a amend way to delete content is not past going through the Timeline, merely instead through your Activeness Log.

None of this, however, makes it clear why Laura'due south content is reappearing.

As hard as yous try, it appears that yous can never actually "get rid" of Facebook short of never having used it in the beginning identify.

[UPDATE]

Per her comments below, Laura, antiseptic that not all her deleted posts were restored – though a groovy deal were. She likewise adds that when deleted posts and comments she did and then through her News Feed, and that she missed some she thought she had deleted originally.

Editors' Recommendations

• Twitter is testing closed captioning push for videos
• Twitter is working on a new feature directly out of AIM
• Instagram wants more 'original' content on its platform
• Apparently, Jack Dorsey regrets killing Vine. We miss it too
• 6 Twitter features I desire no matter who'due south in charge

ardwandrang.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/deleting-facebook-posts-fail/

Share this post