Facebook is making some very questionable moves right now about how it handles user data. Out of the blue, the social network has increased the time period for which it holds onto user data after an account is deleted. The company confirmed to The Verge that it will now allow a grace period of 30 days to users before it deletes their account completely from its database. Earlier, users were given 14 days to decide whether they want to come back to the platform and reactivate their accounts.
“We recently increased the grace period when you choose to delete your Facebook account from 14 days to 30 days,” a Facebook spokesperson told 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,” added the Facebook spokesperson.
While Facebook may want to play it up as a user-centric feature, the truth of the matter could be completely unrelated to what users want. Facebook has not had the best year so far when it comes to keeping the data of its users safe. Multiple, big-scale breaches have made the social network more undesirable for its members who are now flocking to Instagram in search for a better UI, lesser ads and a more mature audience. It is true that Instagram is also owned by Facebook and by default, so is all its user data, but the negative image that Facebook as a platform has managed to earn itself over the past year is definitely a trigger for users migrating or completely deleting their existence from the social network.
The recent compromise of 50 million accounts does not help the company’s dwindling user numbers. Multiple reports suggest Facebook is losing its younger users and that the company will have to say goodbye to about 2.1 million users under the age of 25 in the U.S. alone. Daily active users on the platform were flat in North America and also fell in Europe for Q2, 2018. So yes, all trends are pointing towards a slow growth for Facebook and the new move to retain user account information for 30 days after deletion could be seen as an effort to retain members on the platform.