Facebook More Than Doubles Account Deletion Grace Period From 14 Days to 30 Days

Facebook has extended the grace period for cancelling account deletion from the earlier 14 days to 30 days. This grace period comes into action once the user requests for permanent deletion of their Facebook account. It is used as a tool by the social networking giant to lure back distracted users by giving them an extended grace period to think about the decision before their entire data and activity history are deleted. Facebook has had an eventful 2018 with the massive Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal emerging early this year.

“We recently increased the grace period when you choose to delete your Facebook account from 14 days to 30 days,” confirmed a Facebook spokesperson to The Verge. “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,” said the spokesperson justifying the decision. Gadgets 360 has been able to independently verify the extension in grace period.

Despite this being shown as a customer-oriented relaxation, it will likely enable Facebook to get back a lot of its users that are fed up of the social networking platform, after a month’s break. Facebook’s revenues are directly linked to the amount of time a user spends on its platform, and a break may just prompt uninterested users to prefer Facebook once again.

In related data breach news, complaints have been filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US this week against Facebook’s Messenger Kids app. The complaints allege that the minor-oriented messaging app violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) because it doesn’t try to ensure that the person setting up a kid’s account is actually the parent. This can allow any user to enter fake age and identity to bypass the eligibility.