Facebook users are looking to leave the mind-bogglingly popular social network in droves, Trusted Reviews can confirm, with ‘#DeleteFacebook’ becoming the internet’s hottest search term virtually overnight. We’ll happily show you how to delete a Facebook account if that’s why you’re here, but if you’re looking for confirmation that you’re not the only one pondering the nuclear option, we’re also here to help.
It probably won’t come as a shock, but Facebook is no longer the darling of the social media world – far from it.
The US-based tech giant is currently at the centre of a privacy storm, after a damning investigative report emerged that showed how UK-based Cambridge Analytics sought to harness Facebook user data to impact major global political events. Yes, the Facebook and Cambridge Analytics scandal is the first truly unavoidable tech story of 2018.
We’re also fascinated by how many of you are suddenly keen to take the nuclear option and resign yourselves to a life without cat memes.
Which is why we’ve pulled a few tasty bits of data (oh, the irony…) to show you just how many folk are deserting the platform in the wake of the revelations. (We can’t properly quantify the current momentum behind #DeleteFacebook on Twitter, but that’s also a thing. Quite a big thing, it seems.)
This is from Google UK search over the last seven days. Notice anything different?
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Our American cousins are just as concerned, it seems, with the following image representing Google US search in the same period.
Related: How to protect your Facebook data
Yikes. That’s a whole lot of people pissed off with Mark Zuckerberg – and we’re not even sure all of them know about the time a pre-pubescent ‘Zuck’ called people who gave him their data “dumb f**ks.”
So no, you’re not alone. You’re definitely, definitely not alone.
In fact, here’s what one of our readers wrote to us:
I can not begin to tell you how many times I have had to re-deactivate my account over the years. I think I stopped counting in 2011.
Each time I received an email from Facebook (usually around 6-8 weeks apart) telling me I hadn’t logged in for a while, I would have to log in and deactivate all over again. Each time, I would be asked why and would say that I actually wanted to DELETE the account.
Funnily enough, I still haven’t received a reply from them. So to find your article, linked into a news post on the latest Facebook privacy crisis causing a mass-exodus from the platform, I was ecstatic.
Here’s hoping that Facebook do delete my account thoroughly and permanently.
Time to return those ‘Zuckerberg for President 2020’ badges you had printed when it seemed things couldn’t get worse than Trump?
Related: Watch the Channel 4 Cambridge Analytics Uncovered report
If you’re still interested in jumping ship then here’s how to delete your Facebook account.
Tweet your most ill-mannered response to the ongoing Facebook drama to us @TrustedReviews. #DeleteFacebook is a bit of thing now, it seems.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
