By AJ Dellinger Published January 9, 2025 | Comments (10) | Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger icons displayed on a phone screen Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images Apparently not everyone is ready to live in a post-truth world. In the wake of Mark Zuckerbergs announcement that Meta platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will ditch professional fact-checkers in favor of a Community Notes-style crowdsourcing approach to accountability, searches for deleting Meta accounts have spiked significantly. Searches for how to delete Facebook and how to delete Instagram peaked in the days following the announcement that accuracy is no longer a priority for posting on the platforms, according to Google Trends data. Related searches like how to quit facebook, how to delete threads account, and how to delete instagram account without logging in have also achieved breakout trend status, meaning they have seen 5,000% increases or higher in interest, as TechCrunch pointed out. Screenshot via Google Trends Fittingly, Facebook competitors are also seeing a spike in interest. Bluesky saw a nearly 1,000% increase in searches during the same period that saw people looking to exit the Meta-verse of social apps. Zuckerberg accused people leaving his companys platforms of virtue signaling, presumably because he assumes everyone is as deeply unscrupulous and malleable as he is and wouldnt do anything simply out of principle.Alas, for those looking for a landing spot, there arent a lot of suitable replacements for platforms like Instagramor Facebook, for that matterfor folks looking to leave the platforms behind as they turn into post-fact AI slop factories.Zuckerberg has successfully cornered major parts of the social web, and escaping his grasp is difficultespecially when it requires convincing the people you want to stay connected with to follow suit. Facebook has successfully amassed more than three billion monthly active users globally and Instagram has two billion. Want to chat with your friends? Meta-owned WhatsApp has nearly three billion active chatters and Messenger has more than one billion of its own. Even if you delete your accounts or never made one to begin with, Meta retains data about you and continues to track your activity across the web for its massive digital advertising business. Of course, that should not stop you from trying to limit your exposure to the tentacles of the monster that is Meta. And just statistically speaking, since you likely landed here by searching something along the lines of how to delete facebook, the least we can do is give you what youre looking for. You get your guide, we get some clicks, and everyone leaves happy. How to Delete Your Facebook Account A quick preface here: Facebook, through what could probably best be described as a willfully inefficient user interface, has created a labyrinthian maze of menus that you have to navigate in order to find the option to delete your accountand that maze will be different depending on what operating system, platform, and version of the Facebook that you are accessing.That said, if you are on an iPhone or Android device: Click the three-bar Menu button on the bottom right of the Facebook app Tap the Settings & privacy header If Accounts Center appears in this menu, tap it. If it doesnt, tap Settings and the app should redirect you to Accounts Center following a popup explaining its function Tap Personal details Tap Account ownership and control Tap Deactivation or deletion Choose the account or profile you want to delete Tap Delete account Tap Continue and follow the instructions on screen to confirm If Accounts Center appears for you, you should be able to delete your Facebook and Instagram accounts at the same time, assuming they are linked together. If you are viewing Facebook on a desktop, the same steps apply, except your first step is to click your profile picture in the top right. From here, find Settings & privacy and follow the same steps as above.Regardless if you are on desktop or mobile apps, if the Accounts Center doesnt appear for you, do the following: Follow steps 1 and 2 above Once in Settings & privacy, tap Profile Access and Control Tap Deactivation and Deletion Choose Delete Account and tap Continue to Account Deletion Follow the instructions on screen to confirm How to Delete Your Instagram Account If your Instagram account is not linked to your Facebook account, you can delete it separately in the iOS and Android app by doing the following: Tap profile or your profile picture in the bottom right Tap the three-bar More menu on the top right Tap Accounts Center Tap Personal details Tap Account ownership and control Tap Deactivation or deletion Tap the account youd like to delete Tap Delete account Tap Continue and follow the steps on screen to confirm If youre visiting Instagram on desktop, your first step will be to Click More on the bottom left of the screen, then click Settings. From there, follow steps 3 through 9 above. Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By AJ Dellinger Published January 9, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published January 7, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published January 7, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published January 6, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published January 3, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published January 2, 2025