Facebook extends account deletion grace period from 14 to 30 days | Apps

Facebook recently extended the deletion grace period for terminating your main account from 14 to 30 days, the company confirmed to The Verge. Now, when you go to delete your Facebook account, you have up to one month to reverse the decision if you choose to log back in. Facebook won’t automatically restore your account if you log in, but it says you will have “the option to cancel your request.”

“We recently increased the grace period when you choose to delete your Facebook account from 14 days to 30 days,” says a Facebook spokesperson. “We’ve seen people try to log in to accounts they’ve opted to delete after the 14-day period. The increase gives people more time to make a fully informed choice.”

Of course, the extension of the grace period also means you must wait up to one month instead of just two weeks for the account to permanently disappear, along with all of your data. For those who are interested in leaving Facebook following news of last week’s major hack and the Cambridge Analytica scandal — or for reasons related to Facebook’s role in abetting fake news and election interference — it’s best to make that decision now so you can ensure your account and the data stored on you gets deleted as promptly possible.

For everyone else, it’s good to know you can now take a month-long break from Facebook and decide at the end of the 30 days if you need or want the social network in your life.