Guide to leaving Facebook

Successfully leaving Facebook has 3 main stages: analysis, bridge mode and final deletion process.

Stage 1/3 - Before deleting your Profile

1. Backup your photos and messages by going to Facebook Settings > General > Download a copy of your Facebook data > Start My Archive.
2. Check which websites use your Facebook credentials, by going to Facebook Settings > Apps. Log into those accounts and change to using your email instead. Consider using a throwaway email account if you aren't interested in logging into a website again. Note that data that has been shared with apps by Facebook will not be removed.
3. Remove all Facebook related apps (Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Facebook Moments and Facebook Home) and turn off Facebook integration (if present) on your phone or tablet.
4. From now on only use the Facebook/Instagram websites via Firefox's Facebook Container. Remember your social graph may still think you are on Facebook. They may attempt to invite you to events and send you messages. Tell your social graph that you will not be present on Facebook after <insert date> because <insert some articles from wiki>. Here is an example of a leaving Facebook post (post in your timeline if possible). Read the article Get your loved ones off Facebook for inspiration.

> I will not be available via Facebook after <insert date> on as I am deleting my Facebook account.



> I can be contacted via email at your@email.com, you can continue to chat with me at your@xmpp.account and I am present at <diaspora/friendica/myblog>



> Please don't post any data in your Facebook account that involves me. This includes conversations we've had and photos of me that you can part with.



> <insert some articles listed on this subreddit, check sidebar: filter bubble, censorship, surveillance, privacy, net neutrality>



> Please respect my privacy. Thank you."

Also you can edit your Facebook/Instagram cover profile and put an image with that message. This way, every contact that visits your profile will know about your decision (since the cover profile photo is completely public, obviously do not post personal info).

Stage 2/3 - "Bridge" Mode

In this stage, you still are on Facebook services and using alternative services. During a period of time (depends on the size and structure of you social graph, but 2-3 week should be enough) you are spreading your new contact information and updating your address book.

• During the next 2-3 weeks, "remove" old private data present on Facebook (likes, photos, events, comments, login apps) and change some personal details. When you receive a message from Facebook chat, notify your contact to migrate to an open protocol like XMPP/Jabber. A template

> Hi, like you may be already know I will not be present on Facebook after <insert date>. Please use another service to continue chatting. Thanks.

Help your contact to setup a new account if necessary. See the Alternative - Chat: XMPP/Jabber section. Don't forget to update your address book with emails and XMPP contacts of your social graph.

At the same time, post news on what's wrong with Facebook to reinforce your position and decrease the information asymmetry about the facebook problems. Every month we post a newsletter with the most recent news about the problems of Facebook see [archive]. For example, the mods posted a compilation of problems of Facebook during 2016, see r/bestof: u/fantastic_comment compiles a list of horrible things Facebook has done over the course: of 2016 [12.9k points and top 150 of r/bestof].

• After a period of 2-3 weeks, all contacts should be informed of your decision. Send an email to your social graph like the message you posted on step 4.

Stage 3/3 - Deletion process

• To permanently delete your profile on Facebook, visit this url. This takes 2 weeks. So during this time, you shouldn't login to Facebook else the process will reset. A video demonstration is available. Facebook will encourage you to cancel your deletion request or switch to a deactivated account (dark patterns) and send you messages about friends missing you and notifications of activity you are missing. Ignore these messages.
• For WhatsApp, Press the Menu Button > Settings > Account > Delete my account. Enter your phone number in the full international format and tap Delete My Account.
• For Instagram, Go to the Delete Your Account page, select an option from the drop-down menu next to *Why are you deleting your account?* and re-enter your password. The option to permanently delete your account will only appear after you've selected a reason from the menu. Click or tap Permanently delete my account.

Stop Facebook tracking you

Facebook tracks non-users around the internet and which Stores You Walk Into, breaching EU law and USA law.

Choose one or more of the following methods:

Web browser addon (easiest)

Install uBlock Origin and/or uMatrix and go to Settings > 3rd-Party Filters > Enable Fanboy’s Social Blocking List

Or add the following rules (uBlock > My Rules > Edit Temporary rules > Save > Commit)

* facebook.com * block

* fb.com * block

* fbcdn.net * block

* tfbnw.net * block

* fbcdn.com * block

* messenger.com * block

* m.me * block

* whatsapp.com * block

* instagram.com * block

Hosts file

This prevents loading Facebook on all applications on your computer, not just the browser.

To edit the hosts file on your computer, follow this guide. Add the following lines:

0.0.0.0    facebook.com 

0.0.0.0    www.facebook.com

0.0.0.0    login.facebook.com

0.0.0.0    www.login.facebook.com

0.0.0.0    fbcdn.net

0.0.0.0    www.fbcdn.net

0.0.0.0    fbcdn.com

0.0.0.0    www.fbcdn.com

0.0.0.0    static.ak.fbcdn.net

0.0.0.0    static.ak.connect.facebook.com

0.0.0.0    connect.facebook.net

0.0.0.0    www.connect.facebook.net

0.0.0.0    apps.facebook.com

::     facebook.com

::     www.facebook.com

::     login.facebook.com

::     www.login.facebook.com

::     fbcdn.net

::     www.fbcdn.net

::     fbcdn.com

::     www.fbcdn.com

::     static.ak.fbcdn.net

::     static.ak.connect.facebook.com

::     connect.facebook.net

::     www.connect.facebook.net

::     apps.facebook.com

::     edge-star6-shv-02-ams2.facebook.com

Note this method is not 100% efficient, since hosts files don't support wildcard rules. See jmdugan/blocklists for more domains to block.

Click here for more advanced methods to stop Facebook tracking

Alternatives

What can replace Facebook then is not another social network, where all your friends have to agree to join the same new place, but a network of social networks through decentralization with federation. Federation means that two people with profiles on two different social networks can do all the things together that they would normally need to be on the same network to do. Social networks using federation are called distributed social networks.

Chat - XMPP/Jabber

Facebook Chat/Messenger/WhatsApp uses a proprietary chat solution, which means that it is locking you in. And this is exactly what Facebook wants, because of the network effect

The best method to keep in contact with your social graph is via a XMPP/Jabber chat service. The main point of Jabber/XMPP is that is a decentralized/federated network, like e-mail or standard telephony systems. This means that john@conversations.im can talk to jane@xmpp.com, or with neal@somecompany.net. John can use program A on his mobile phone (Xabber, ChatSecure, Conversations, …), Jane can use program B on her PC (Pidgin, Swift, Psi, Gajim…), Neal can use program C on his company… and nobody cares what program the other person is using, since it’s not necessary to know it, or to use the same program to talk to each other. For a in depth discussion of the problem read Have you considered the alternative?.

There are good clients/apps for all different platforms: like Gajim and Dino for computers and Conversations.im or ChatSecure for mobile devices.

You can also host your own server with Prosody or ejabberd. For more info read Configuring an XMPP server for secure, mobile instant messaging

Quickstart

This is based on the good article Picking and setting up modern XMPP clients

1. Choose a server with good XEP support (other than XEP-0357, which is for GCM, rather than the standard push mechanism). Conversations has an official XMPP server with all of the necessary extensions for full functionality. It costs 8 EUR / year after the 6 month free trial. Using the official server to support the project is recommended, but there are other options without a subscription fee. Comparison table is available here
2. Create an account on the chosen server
3. Tell your contacts about your new account
4. Make sure you use OMEMO encryption. You can activate it from the conversations.im padlock menu. On your PC you can use Gajim with the OMEMO plugin.

Dino also supports OMEMO.

Note 1: If some of your contacts have an iBad device, they can use ChatSecure iOS 4.0 that supports OMEMO.

Note 2: List of XMPP clients that supports OMEMO - https://omemo.top

Chat - Matrix.org/Riot.im

Matrix.org is is an open standard for decentralized communication system. Riot.im is built on top of Matrix and supports full end-to-end encryption via Olm and Megaolm for group chats. You call do voice calls via WebRTC.

Social networks

There are distributed social networks like diaspora*, Friendica based on the XMPP protocol that supports federation, which means you can communicate with people on a Diaspora* pod. Tutorials are available, you can pick from dozens of service providers..

News

If you are a blogger/news aficionado, to keep up to date with the websites and blogs you like, you can subscribe to the updates via RSS or ATOM.

Install a news feed reader in your device like quiterss and subscribe to feeds you find interesting. You can organize them on folders for different subjects.

Check youneedfeeds.com