What is the Privacy Policy and what does it cover?

Effective June 26, 2024 | View printable version | See previous versions

Highlights

  • This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and share your information. It also describes how long we keep your information and how we keep it safe when we transfer it.
  • The Privacy Policy also lets you know your rights
  • This policy applies to what we call Meta Products, or Products. Our Products include Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
  • It also applies to Meta Quest if you log in with a Facebook or Meta account
We at Meta want you to understand what information we collect, and how we use and share it. That’s why we encourage you to read our Privacy Policy. This helps you use Meta Products in the way that’s right for you.
In the Privacy Policy, we explain how we collect, use, share, retain and transfer information. We also let you know your rights. Each section of the Policy includes helpful examples and simpler language to make our practices easier to understand. We’ve also added links to resources where you can learn more about the privacy topics that interest you.
It's important to us that you know how to control your privacy, so we also show you where you can manage your information in the settings of the Meta Products you use. You can update these settings to shape your experience.
Read the full policy below.
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What information do we collect?

Highlights

In this policy we list the kinds of information we collect. Here are some important ones. We collect:
  • The information you give us when you sign up for our Products and create a profile, like your email address or phone number
  • What you do on our Products. This includes what you click on or like, your posts and photos and messages you send. If you use end-to-end encrypted messaging, we can't read those messages unless users report them to us for review.
  • Who your friends or followers are, and what they do on our Products
  • Information from the phone, computer, or tablet you use our Products on, like what kind it is and what version of our app you’re using
  • Information from partners about things you do both on and off of our Products. This could include other websites you visit, apps you use or online games you play.
The information we collect and process about you depends on how you use our Products. For example, we collect different information if you sell furniture on Marketplace than if you post a reel on Instagram. When you use our Products, we collect some information about you even if you don't have an account.
Here's the information we collect:

Your activity and information you provide

An elderly man sitting at a desk and using a credit card to shop on his laptop.
On our Products, you can send messages, take photos and videos, buy or sell things and much more. We call all of the things you can do on our Products "activity." We collect your activity across our Products and information you provide, such as:
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features. Learn more about what we collect from these features, and how we use information from the camera for masks, filters, avatars and effects.
  • Messages you send and receive, including their content, subject to applicable law. We can't see the content of end-to-end encrypted messages unless users report them to us for review. Learn more.
  • Metadata about content and messages, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content, including ads, you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them. See examples.
  • Purchases or other transactions you make, such as through Meta checkout experiences, including credit card information. Learn more.
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products

Information with special protections

You might choose to provide information about your religious views, your sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership. These and other types of information could have special protections under the laws of your jurisdiction.

Friends, followers and other connections

Information we collect about your friends, followers and other connections

We collect information about friends, followers, groups, accounts, Facebook Pages and other users and communities you’re connected to and interact with. This includes how you interact with them across our Products and which ones you interact with the most.

Information we collect about contacts

We also collect your contacts’ information, such as their name and email address or phone number, if you choose to upload or import it from a device, like by syncing an address book.
If you don’t use Meta Products, or use them without an account, your information might still be collected. Learn more about how Meta uses contact information uploaded by account holders.
Learn how to upload and delete contacts on Facebook and Messenger, or how to connect your device's contact list on Instagram.

Information we collect or infer about you based on others’ activity

We collect information about you based on others' activity. See some examples.
We also infer things about you based on others' activity. For example:
  • We may suggest a friend to you through Facebook's People You May Know feature if you both appear on a contact list that someone uploads.
  • We take into account whether your friends belong to a group when we suggest you join it.

App, browser and device information

We collect and receive information from and about the different devices you use and how you use them.
Device information we collect and receive includes:
  • The device and software you’re using, and other device characteristics. See examples.
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’, including Family Device IDs. See examples.
  • Signals from your device. See examples.
  • Information you’ve shared with us through device settings, like GPS location, camera access, photos and related metadata
  • Information about the network you connect your device to and your connection, including your IP address. See more examples.
  • Some location-related information, even if Location Services is turned off in your device settings. This includes using IP addresses to estimate your general location.
  • Information about our Products’ performance on your device. Learn more.
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies. Learn more.

Information from partners, vendors and other third parties

What kinds of information do we collect or receive?

We collect and receive information from partners, measurement vendors, marketing vendors and other third parties about a variety of your information and activities on and off our Products.
Here are some examples of information we receive about you:
  • Your device information
  • Websites you visit and cookie data, like through Social Plugins or the Meta Pixel
  • Apps you use
  • Games you play
  • Purchases and transactions you make off of our Products using non-Meta checkout experiences
  • Your demographics, like your education level
  • The ads you see and how you interact with them
  • How you use our partners’ products and services, online or in person
Partners also share information like your email address, cookies and advertising device ID with us. This helps us match your activities with your account, if you have one.
We receive this information whether or not you’re logged in or have an account on our Products. Learn more about how we connect information from partners to your account.
Partners also share with us their communications with you if they instruct us to provide services to their business, like helping them manage their communications. To learn how a business processes or shares your information, read their privacy policy or contact them directly.

How do we collect or receive this information from partners?

Partners use our Business Tools, integrations and Meta Audience Network technologies to share information with us.
These partners collect your information when you visit their site or app or use their services, or through other businesses or organizations they work with. We require partners to have the right to collect, use and share your information before giving it to us.

What if you don’t let us collect certain information?

Some information is required for our Products to work. Other information is optional, but without it, the quality of your experience might be affected.
Learn more

What if the information we collect doesn’t identify individuals?

In some cases information is de-identified, aggregated, or anonymized by third parties so that it no longer identifies individuals before it’s made available to us. We use this information as described below without trying to re-identify individuals.
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How do we use your information?

Highlights

Here are some of the ways we use your information:
  • We personalize your experience, like by suggesting reels to watch or communities to join
  • We improve our Products by applying information about what you use them to do, and what else is happening on your device when our app crashes
  • We work to prevent harmful behavior and keep people safe on our Products
  • We send you messages about the Products you use or ones you might like, if you let us
  • We research for the good of people around the world, like to advance technology or to help out in a crisis
We use information we collect to provide a personalized experience to you, including ads, along with the other purposes we explain in detail below.
For some of these purposes, we use information across our Products and across your devices. The information we use for these purposes is automatically processed by our systems. But in some cases, we also use manual review to access and review your information.
To use less information that’s connected to individual users, in some cases we de-identify or aggregate information or anonymize it so that it no longer identifies you. We use this information in the same ways we use your information as described in this section.
Here are the ways we use your information:

To provide, personalize and improve our Products

We use information we have to provide and improve our Products. This includes personalizing features, content and recommendations, such as your Facebook Feed, Instagram feed, Stories and ads. We use information with special protections you choose to provide for these purposes, but not to show you ads.
Read more about how we use information to provide, personalize and improve our Products:

How we show ads and other sponsored or commercial content

When you use our Products, you see ads and sponsored or commercial content, like product listings in Shops. You also see ads shown through Meta Audience Network or commercial content when you visit other apps. We use your information to show you ads paid for by advertisers, businesses, and organizations. We want everything you see to be interesting and useful to you.
To decide what to show you and others, we use information we have about you, including:
  • Your profile information
  • Your activity on and off our Products, including information we receive through cookies and similar technologies, according to your settings
  • Content you create or interact with across Facebook and Instagram
  • Things we infer about you, like topics we think you may be interested in
  • Information about your friends, followers or other connections, including their activity or interests
Learn more about some of the ways we show you ads that we think may be interesting to you, including using machine learning.

Take control

Manage ad preferences

How we use information to improve our Products

We’re always trying to make our Products better and create new ones with the features you want. Information we collect from you helps us learn how.
We use information we collect to:
  • See if a product is working correctly
  • Troubleshoot and fix it when it’s not
  • Test out new products and features to see if they work
  • Get feedback on our ideas for products or features
  • Conduct surveys and other research about what you like about our Products and brands and what we can do better

How we use location-related information

We use location-related information that you allow us to receive if you turn on the Location Services device setting. This includes things like your GPS location and, depending on the operating system you're using, other device signals.
We also receive and use some location-related information even if Location Services is turned off. This includes:
  • IP addresses, which we use to estimate your general location. We can use IP addresses to estimate your specific location if it’s necessary to protect the safety and security of you or others.
  • Your and others' activity on our Products, like check-ins and events
  • Information you give us directly, like if you enter your current city on your profile, or provide your address in Marketplace
We use location-related information, such as your current location, where you live, the places you like to go and the businesses and people you're near, to do the things described in the “How do we use your information?” section of the Policy, like:
  • Provide, personalize and improve our Products, including ads, for you and others. See an example.
  • Detect suspicious activity and help keep your account secure. Learn how.

Take control

Manage location settings

To promote safety, security and integrity

We use information we collect to help protect people from harm and provide safe, secure Products.
Learn more

To provide measurement, analytics and business services

Lots of people rely on our Products to run or promote their businesses. We help them measure how well their ads and other content, products and services are working.
Learn more

To communicate with you

We communicate with you using information you've given us, like contact information you've entered on your profile.
Learn more

To research and innovate for social good

We use information we have, information from researchers and datasets from publicly available sources, professional groups and non-profit groups to conduct and support research.
Learn more

Promoting safety, security and integrity

Here are some ways we promote safety, security and integrity. We work to:
  • Verify accounts and activity
  • Find and address violations of our terms or policies. In some cases, the decisions we make about violations are reviewed by the Oversight Board. They may use information we have when they review our decisions. Learn more about how the Oversight Board processes information.
  • Investigate suspicious activity
  • Detect, prevent and combat harmful or unlawful behavior
  • Identify and combat disparities and racial bias against historically marginalized communities
  • Detect and prevent spam and other bad experiences
  • Detect when someone needs help and provide support
  • Detect and stop threats to our personnel and property
  • Maintain the integrity of our Products
Learn more about how we work to keep Meta a safe place for everyone.

Take control

Providing measurement, analytics and business services

To provide measurement and analytics services, we use the information we collect about you across your accounts on our Products.
Our measurement and analytics services help our partners understand things like:
  • How many people see and interact with their products, services or content, including posts, videos, Facebook Pages, listings, Shops and ads (including those shown through apps using Meta Audience Network)
  • How people interact with their content, websites, apps and services
  • What types of people interact with their content or use their services
  • How people use our partners' products and services to connect to Meta Products, the performance of their connection and networks and users' experience with them
We also use the information we collect to provide business services.

More in the Privacy Policy

Communicating with you

We communicate with you in a few different ways. For example:
  • We send messages about the Products we know you use, using the email you register to your account
  • Depending on your settings, we send marketing communications about Products you might like
  • We ask you to participate in research based on things like how you use our Products
  • We let you know about our policies and terms of service
  • When you contact us with questions, we reply to your email
  • We facilitate customer support communications with you when you've told us, either directly or through a third party, that you have questions or concerns about our Products
We also use information about how you interact with our messages, like if you open an email from us. This helps us understand the best way to reach you and whether our communications are helpful.

Take control

Researching and innovating for social good

We research and innovate to help people around the world. Our goals include:
  • Contributing to social good and areas of public interest
  • Advancing technology
  • Improving safety, health and well-being
Here are some examples of our research:
  • We analyze information about where groups of people go during crises. This helps relief organizations get aid to the right places.
  • We work with independent researchers to better understand the impact social media might have on elections and democratic processes
  • We’ve collaborated with academics and industry experts to help improve internet access and quality in rural areas
  • We support research in areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning
Learn more about our research programs

More in the Privacy Policy

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How is your information shared on Meta Products or with integrated partners?

Highlights

  • You can choose to share information on our Products or with integrated partners
  • Remember to share only with people you trust
  • You might decide to use a product that integrates with one of ours, like if you use Facebook Login to log into a music service or a shopping site
  • If you do, that organization will ask you to receive some information about you, like your email address or birthday
Hands holding a phone, using Facebook Login to log into an Integrated Partner's website.

On Meta Products

Learn more about the different cases when your information can be shared on our Products:

People and accounts you share and communicate with

When you share and communicate using our Products, you can sometimes choose the audience for what you share.
When you interact with people or businesses, they can see:

What you share with them

For example, the audience you choose can see when you:
  • Share a post you’ve written
  • Share a photo or video
  • Create a story
  • Share a news article
  • Add information to your profile

What you communicate with them

People you interact with can see what you send to them. So if you send a person or a business a message on Messenger or Instagram, that person or business can read your message.

Some of your activity

People and businesses can also see some of your activity on our Products. This includes when you:
  • Comment on or react to others’ posts
  • Engage with ads or other sponsored or commercial content, like by commenting or liking
  • Allow content you've shared about a product in a Shop to be shared across our Products
  • View their story on Facebook or Instagram
  • Connect a new Meta device, like smart glasses, to your account

When you’re active

Some of our Products might provide you with settings that allow others to see when you're active on our Products, such as “active status.” In some cases, we also offer settings that allow others to see when you’re active in a particular section of one of our Products, like a message thread, game or event, or when you last used one of our Products.
Learn how to update your Active Status on Facebook and Messenger, or how to update your Activity Status on Instagram.

Content others share or reshare about you

Who can see or reshare your content

People in your audience can view your content and can choose to share it with others outside your audience, on and off our Products. For example, when you share a post or send a message to specific friends, they can download, screenshot or reshare it with anyone, on, across or off our Products.
When you comment on a post or react to a photo, your comment or reaction can be seen by anyone who can see the post or photo. This can include people you aren’t connected to. The person who shared the post can also change their audience at any time after you’ve interacted with it.

How information about you can be shared

People who use our Products can share information about you with the audience they choose. For example, they can:
  • Share a photo or video of you in a post, comment, story, reel or message
  • Mention you in a post or story
  • Tag you in a post, comment, story or location
  • Share details about you in a post, story or message
If you’re uncomfortable with what others have shared about you on our Products, you can always choose to report posts and stories.

Take control

Manage tags

Public content

What content is public?

Some of your information and activity are always public. This includes:
  • Your name
  • Facebook and Instagram username
  • Profile picture
  • Activity on public groups, Pages and channels
  • Your avatars
Other content you can choose to set to Public, like posts, photos and videos you post to your profile, Stories or Reels.

Who can see public content?

When content is public, it can be seen by anyone on or across our Products, and in some cases off our Products, even if they don’t have an account.
For example, if you comment on Marketplace, a public Facebook Page or a public Instagram account, or if you leave a rating or review, your comment, rating or review will be visible to anyone. It could appear in any of our Products or be seen by anyone, including off our Products.

Where can public content be shared?

We, you and people using our Products can send public content (like your profile photo, or information you share on a Facebook Page or public Instagram account) to anyone on, across or off our Products. For example, users can share it in a public forum, or it can appear in search results on the internet.
Public content can also be seen, accessed, reshared or downloaded through third-party services, like:
  • Search engines. Learn more.
  • APIs
  • The media, like TV
  • Other apps and websites connected to our Products

Take control

Manage public information

With integrated partners

You can choose to connect with integrated partners who use our Products. If you do, these integrated partners receive information about you and your activity.
These integrated partners can always access information that’s public on our Products. Learn more about other information they receive and how they handle your information:

When you use an integrated partner’s product or service

Information they receive automatically

When you use an integrated partner’s products or services, they can access:
  • What you post or share from these products or services
  • What you use their services to do
  • Information from and about the device you’re using
  • The language setting you’ve chosen on our Products
See examples of when an integrated partner might receive your information.

Information they receive with your permission

Sometimes these integrated partners ask you for permission to access certain additional information from your Facebook, Instagram or Messenger account. In their request, they’ll explain what information they’d like to access and let you choose whether to share it.
On Facebook, this includes things like your email address, hometown or birthday. On Instagram, this includes content, like photos and videos, that you’ve shared from your account when the account was set to private.
We automatically log when you receive a request from an integrated partner to access your information. These requests to access information are separate from the Apps and Websites access that you manage in your Facebook or Instagram ad settings or in your mobile device settings.

How long they can access your information

Apps or websites you’ve logged into using Facebook Login or connected to your Instagram account can access your nonpublic information on Meta Products unless it appears to us that you haven’t used the app or website in 90 days. Note that even if an app’s access to your information has expired, it can still retain information you shared with it previously.
We encourage you to visit your Apps and Websites settings from time to time to review which apps and websites continue to have access to your information through Facebook Login or Instagram.

Take control

Manage apps and websites

When you interact with someone else’s content on an integrated partner’s product or service

Integrated partners receive information about your activity when you interact with other Facebook, Instagram or Messenger users while they’re using the integrated partner’s product or service.
For example, a gamer livestreams to Facebook using a partner app. Then you comment on that livestream. The app developer will receive information about your comment.

How integrated partners handle your information

Integrated partners handle the information you share with them according to their own terms and policies, not Meta’s. You can review their privacy policy on their website or app to learn how they receive and process your information. In some cases, they use a separate service provider to receive and process your information.

More resources

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How do we share information with third parties?

Highlights

We share certain information with:
  • Advertisers who show ads on our Products
  • Businesses we hire to market our Products for us
  • Businesses we hire to do things like offer customer service or conduct surveys
  • Researchers who use it to do things like innovate, advance technology, or improve people’s safety
We don’t sell your information, and we never will.
A row of images, including a bar graph, two ads and an online shopping cart.
We don't sell any of your information to anyone, and we never will. We also require partners and other third parties to follow rules about how they can and cannot use and disclose the information we provide.
Here’s more detail about who we share information with:

Partners

Advertisers and Audience Network publishers

Advertisers

We provide advertisers with reports about the number and kinds of people who see and engage with their ads and commercial content. These reports include information about the general demographics and interests of people who engaged with an advertiser’s ad or commercial content. Then advertisers can better understand their audience. See an example.
Meta also provides advertisers and their vendors with information about:
  • Ads and commercial content people engaged with, if any
  • When people engaged with ads and commercial content
  • Where that ad or commercial content was shown (for example, on Instagram, or on Facebook)
We also confirm which ads or commercial content you viewed that led you to take an action with an advertiser, such as downloading an advertiser's app. But we don't share information with these advertisers and their vendors that by itself can be used to contact or identify you, such as your name or email address, unless you give us permission.

Audience Network publishers and their vendors

Meta Audience Network lets advertisers place ads with us that will be published on other apps and websites outside of Meta.
To help show you ads on their apps and websites, we share information with publishers who use Audience Network, as well as vendors who facilitate that use. For example, we share:
  • How many people see and engage with ads on publisher apps
  • Information related to or in response to a publisher’s request to serve an ad on its app.
But we don't share information with these publishers and their vendors that by itself can be used to contact or identify you, such as your name or email address, unless you give us permission.

Partners who use our analytics services

People rely on our Products, like business accounts, professional tools and Facebook Pages, to run and promote their businesses. Businesses use our analytics services to understand more about how people are using their content, features, products and services.
To provide these services, we use the information we collect about you. We put this information into aggregate reports so that partners can see how well their content, features, products and services are performing and are able to understand things like users’ experience with such content, products and services.
These reports aggregate information like:
  • How many people interacted with our partners' content, products or services
  • The general demographics and interests of the people who interacted with it
  • How people use our partners’ products and services to connect to Meta Products and the performance of their connection and networks
Advertisers also receive other information. Read our policy about how we share information with advertisers.

Partners who offer goods or services on our Products and commerce services platforms

When you choose to make a transaction, or otherwise choose to share information with a seller, creator, fundraiser, charity, payment services provider or commerce services platform, we share information with them and with any providers acting on their behalf.
Depending on how you interact with them, they receive:
  • Information to complete your transaction, like order, payment, contact and shipping information
  • Information to help ensure the security of the transaction, like information about your device or connection
  • Any information required by applicable regulation
  • Other information you choose to share with them
For example, if you make a purchase from an Instagram shop using checkout, the shop will receive information to complete your transaction. This may include your order items, your contact details and shipping information. If the shop uses a payment services provider, such as PayPal, to facilitate the transaction, the provider will receive the transaction amount, a transaction description (to appear on your credit card statement) and your payment card information, such as cardholder name, card number, expiration date and billing address. Learn more about payments on Instagram.

Integrated partners

When you choose to use integrated partners’ products or services, they may receive information about you and your activity. Read the policy.

Vendors

Measurement vendors

We don’t create every measurement and analytics report ourselves.
We share information (like whether people saw an ad or engaged with it) with our measurement vendors, who aggregate it to provide their reports.
For example, an advertiser might ask a measurement vendor to help figure out the impact its ads on Facebook have had on sales. The measurement vendor compares information from us about clicks on the advertiser’s Facebook ads with information from the advertiser about product purchases. Then the measurement vendor creates and provides aggregated reports that show the advertiser how its ads are performing.

Marketing vendors

We share information about you with marketing vendors. For example, we share your device identifier or other identifiers with marketing vendors to help us serve you ads most relevant to your interests.
Marketing vendors support our marketing and advertising efforts by:
  • Serving our advertisements across the internet, including on mobile, desktop and connected television devices
  • Tracking and categorizing your online and mobile app activity
  • Providing us information about your interests and community and advertising interactions
These marketing vendors help us understand who might find our advertising most relevant to their interests, and which of our Products might interest you. This information can be used to personalize which of our ads are shown to you. Marketing vendors also use this information to measure response to our marketing efforts and the effectiveness of our advertising.
Learn more about how to manage the Meta ads you see off our Products.

Service providers

Service providers

Service providers provide services to us that help us provide our Products to you. We share the information we have about you to receive these services, which include:
  • Investigating suspicious activity
  • Detecting and stopping threats to our personnel and property
  • Facilitating payments
  • Providing customer support
  • Improving the functionality of our Products
  • Providing technical infrastructure services
  • Analyzing how our Products are used
  • Conducting research and surveys
  • Marketing and promoting our Products

Third parties

External researchers

We provide information to external researchers. They use it to conduct research that advances scholarship and innovation, and to promote safety, security and integrity.
Research goals include supporting:
  • Our business or mission
  • Social good. Learn more.
  • Technological advancement
  • Safety and security on our Products
  • Public interest
  • Health and well-being
When sharing information with external researchers, we ensure the privacy of our users is protected. Learn more about the privacy-safe research we support.

Other third parties

We also share information with other third parties in response to legal requests, to comply with applicable law or to prevent harm. Read the policy.
And if we sell or transfer all or part of our business to someone else, in some cases we’ll give the new owner your information as part of that transaction, but only as the law allows.
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How do the Meta Companies work together?

Highlights

  • Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Meta Quest and the other Products covered by this policy
  • Meta also owns the Meta Companies, which include WhatsApp
  • Sometimes we share information within these Companies
  • We do this to make new features or shared experiences between different products.
  • We also share information, like your name and email address, to help verify your accounts, and check out suspicious activities. This helps us keep your accounts safe.
A Meta Quest, a mobile phone showing the Facebook, Instagram and Messenger apps, and a pair of Ray-Ban Stories glasses sit on a table.
We are part of the Meta Companies that provide Meta Company Products. Meta Company Products include all the Meta Products covered by this Policy, plus other products like WhatsApp, Novi and more.
We share information we collect, infrastructure, systems and technology with the other Meta Companies. Learn more about how we transfer information to other countries.
We also process information that we receive about you from other Meta Companies, according to their terms and policies and as permitted by applicable law. In some cases, Meta acts as a service provider for other Meta Companies. We act on their behalf and in accordance with their instructions and terms.

Why we share across the Meta Companies

Meta Products share information with other Meta Companies:
  • To promote safety, security and integrity and comply with applicable laws
  • To personalize offers, ads and other sponsored or commercial content
  • To develop and provide features and integrations
  • To understand how people use and interact with Meta Company Products
See some examples of why we share.

More resources

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How can you manage or delete your information and exercise your rights?

Highlights

  • You have rights to view and download the information we have about you
  • You can use the settings in this section to manage your privacy
  • You also can delete your account or specific account information, if you want to
We offer you a variety of tools to view, manage, download and delete your information below. You can also manage your information by visiting the settings of the Products you use. You may also have other privacy rights under applicable laws.
To exercise your rights, visit our Help Centers, your settings for Facebook and Instagram and your device-based settings.
You can learn more about how privacy works on Facebook and on Instagram, and in the Facebook Help Center. If you have questions about this policy, you can contact us as described below. In some countries, you may also be able to contact the Data Protection Officer for Meta Platforms, Inc., and depending on your jurisdiction, you may also contact your local Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) directly.
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How long do we keep your information?

Highlights

  • We keep information for as long as we need it to provide a feature or service
  • But you can request that we delete your information
  • We’ll delete that information unless we have to keep it for something else, like for legal reasons
We keep information as long as we need it to provide our Products, comply with legal obligations or protect our or other’s interests. We decide how long we need information on a case-by-case basis. Here’s what we consider when we decide:
  • If we need it to operate or provide our Products. For example, we need to keep some of your information to maintain your account. Learn more.
  • The feature we use it for, and how that feature works. For example, messages sent using Messenger’s vanish mode are retained for less time than regular messages. Learn more.
  • How long we need to retain the information to comply with certain legal obligations. See some examples.
  • If we need it for other legitimate purposes, such as to prevent harm; investigate possible violations of our terms or policies; promote safety, security and integrity; or protect ourselves, including our rights, property or products
In some instances and for specific reasons, we’ll keep information for an extended period of time. Read our policy about when we may preserve your information.
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How do we transfer information?

Highlights

  • Because we connect people all around the world, we need to transfer information all around the world, too
  • When we do this, we follow international regulations to keep your information safe

Why is information transferred to other countries?

We share the information we collect globally, both internally across our offices and data centers, and externally with our partners, measurement vendors, service providers and other third parties. Because Meta is global, with users, partners and employees around the world, transfers are necessary for a variety of reasons, including:
  • So we can operate and provide the services stated in the terms of the Meta Product you’re using and this Policy. This includes allowing you to share information and connect with your family and friends around the globe.
  • So we can fix, analyze and improve our Products

Where is information transferred?

Your information will be transferred or transmitted to, or stored and processed in:
  • Places we have infrastructure or data centers, including the United States, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden, among others
  • Countries where Meta Company Products are available
  • Other countries where our partners, vendors, service providers and other third parties are located outside of the country where you live, for purposes as described in this Policy

How do we safeguard your information?

We rely on appropriate mechanisms for international data transfers.
We also make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place whenever we transfer your information. For example, we encrypt your information when it’s in transit over public networks to protect it from unauthorized access.
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How do we respond to legal requests, comply with applicable law and prevent harm?

Highlights

  • Sometimes we have to provide information to respond to legal requests when necessary
  • If there’s a law that says we need to keep your information for some reason, we need to comply with it. So we’ll keep information to obey that law.
  • We also sometimes keep information that we think will help prevent or stop bad activity, either on our Products or in the world
We access, preserve, use and share your information:
  • In response to legal requests, like search warrants, court orders, production orders or subpoenas. These requests come from third parties such as civil litigants, law enforcement and other government authorities. Learn more about when we respond to legal requests.
  • In accordance with applicable law
  • To promote the safety, security and integrity of Meta Products, users, employees, property and the public. Learn more.
We may access or preserve your information for an extended amount of time. Learn more.
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How will you know the policy has changed?

We'll notify you before we make material changes to this Policy. You’ll have the opportunity to review the revised Policy before you choose to continue using our Products.
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How to contact Meta with questions

You can learn more about how privacy works on Facebook and on Instagram and in the Facebook Help Center. If you have questions about this Policy or have questions, complaints or requests regarding your information, you can contact us as described below.
You can contact us online or by mail at:
Meta Platforms, Inc.
ATTN: Privacy Operations
1601 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
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Japan Privacy Notice

Review the Japan Privacy Notice to learn more about:
  • The external transmissions of information we use to provide Meta Products. This includes what information is transmitted, why the information is transmitted, and who receives it.
  • How we handle Specified User Information.
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Why and how we process your information

The categories of information we use, and why and how information is processed, are set out below:

Why and how we process your information

Information categories we use (see 'What Information do we collect?' for more information on each information category) The actual information we use depends on your factual circumstances, but could include any of the following:

Personalizing the Meta Products (other than ads, see below): Our systems automatically process information we collect and store associated with you and others to assess and understand your interests and your preferences and provide you personalized experiences across the Meta Products in accordance with our terms. This is how we:
  • Personalize features and content (such as your News Feed, Instagram Feed and Stories);
  • Make suggestions for you (such as people you may know, groups or events that you may be interested in or topics that you may want to follow) on and off our products.
Learn more about how we use information about you to personalize your experience on and across Meta Products and how we choose the ads that you see.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings (like GPS location)
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to
  • Reports about our products’ performance on your device
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Providing ads on the Meta Products:
Our ads system automatically processes information that we’ve collected and stored associated with you. Our ads system uses this information to understand your interests and your preferences and personalize your ads across the Meta Products.
Our ads system prioritizes what ad to show you based on what audience advertisers want to reach. Then we match the ad to people who might be interested. Learn more about how our ads system works
  • Age
  • The gender you provide
  • Information about ads we show you and how you engage with those ads
  • Location information
  • Device characteristics and device software
Providing and improving our Meta Products: The provision of the Meta Products includes collecting, storing, and, where relevant, sharing, profiling, reviewing and curating, and in some instances not only automated processing but also manual (human) reviewing, to:
  • Create and maintain your account and profile,
  • Connect your Meta Products account, including your public profile information, to an integrated partner to sign in or share your information,
  • Facilitate the sharing of content and status,
  • Provide and curate features,
  • Provide messaging services, the ability to make voice and video calls and connect with others,
  • Provide advertising products,
  • Understand and enable creation of content like text, audio, images and videos, including through artificial intelligence technology we provide,
  • Undertake analytics, and
  • Facilitate your purchases and payments on Meta Pay or other Meta checkout experiences.
We also use information to develop, research and test improvements to our Products. We use information we have to:
  • See if a product is working correctly,
  • Troubleshoot and fix it when it’s not,
  • Test out new products and features to see if they work,
  • Get feedback on our ideas for products or features, and
  • Conduct surveys and other research about what you like about our Products and brands and what we can do better.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Your public profile information (including your name, username and profile picture)
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Messages you send and receive, including their content, subject to applicable law
  • Metadata about content and messages, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make, including truncated credit card information
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Promoting safety, integrity and security on and across the Meta Products: The Meta Products are designed to research and help ensure the safety, integrity and security of those services and those people who enjoy them, on and off Meta Products. We process information we have associated with you and apply automated processing techniques and, in some instances, conduct manual (human) review to:
  • Verify accounts and activity,
  • Find and address violations of our terms or policies. In some cases, the decisions we make about violations are reviewed by the Oversight Board,
  • Investigate suspicious activity,
  • Detect, prevent and combat harmful or unlawful behavior, such as to review and, in some cases, remove content reported to us,
  • Identify and combat disparities and racial bias against historically marginalized communities,
  • Protect the life, physical or mental health, well-being or integrity of our users or others,
  • Detect and prevent spam, other security matters and other bad experiences,
  • Detect and stop threats to our personnel and property, and
  • Maintain the integrity of our Products.
For more information on safety, integrity and security generally on Meta Products, visit the Facebook Security Help Center and Instagram Security Tips.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Messages you send and receive, including their content, subject to applicable law
  • Metadata about content and messages, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make, including truncated credit card information
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
To communicate with you: We use information you’ve given us (like contact information on your profile) to send you a communication, like an e-mail or in-product notice, for example:
  • We’ll contact you via email or in-product notifications in relation to the Meta Products, product-related issues, research or to let you know about our terms and policies.
We also use contact information like your email address to respond when you contact us.
  • Contact information on your profile and your communications with us
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies.
Transferring, storing or processing your information across borders, including from and to the United States and other countries: We share information we collect globally, both internally across our offices and data centers and externally with our partners, third parties and service providers. Because Meta is global, with users, partners, vendors and employees around the world, transfers are necessary:
  • To operate and provide the services described in the terms that apply to the Meta Product(s) you are using. This includes allowing you to share information and connect with your family and friends around the globe; and
  • To fix, analyze and improve our Products.
For more information, see the "How do we transfer information?" section of the Meta Privacy Policy.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content and messages, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make, including truncated credit card information
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Processing information subject to special protections under applicable laws that you provide so we can share it with those you choose, to provide, personalize and improve our Products and to undertake analytics. We’ll collect, store, publish and apply automated, or sometimes manual (human), processing for these purposes.
  • Any information with special protections that you choose to provide, such as your religious views, your sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, or as part of surveys you choose to participate in, and where you have given your explicit consent
Receiving and using information from third parties to tailor the ads you see: We’ll use information that advertisers, businesses and other partners provide us about activity off Meta Products that we have associated with you to personalize ads that we show you on Meta Products, and on websites, apps and devices that use our advertising services. We receive this information whether or not you’re logged in or have an account on our Products. See the Cookies Policy for more information.
  • Information and content you provide, such as your name or email address
Sharing your contact, profile or other information with third parties upon your request: The type of third party and categories of information shared depend on the circumstances of what you ask us to share. For example:
  • We share your email (or other contact information) or other information you might choose when you direct us to share it with an advertiser so they can contact you with additional information about a promoted product, and
  • If you choose to integrate other apps, games or websites with Meta Products and log in, we’ll share your information with the app, game or website to log you in.
  • Information such as your contact or profile information
  • Content you create, like posts or comments
Providing measurement, analytics and business services:
Our systems automatically, as well as with some manual (human) processing, process information we have collected and stored about you and others. We use this information to:
  • Provide insights and measurement reports to businesses, advertisers and other partners to help them measure the effectiveness and distribution of their or their clients’ ads, content and services, to understand the kinds of people who are seeing their content and ads, and how their content and ads are performing on and off Meta Products, and
  • Provide aggregated user analytics and insights reports that help businesses, advertisers and other partners better understand the audiences with whom they may want to connect, as well as the types of people who use their services and how people interact with their websites, apps and services.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Sharing of information across the Meta Companies:
  • To provide a seamless, consistent and richer, innovative experience across the Meta Company Products to enable cross app interactions, sharing, viewing and engaging with content, including posts and videos.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users'
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Business intelligence and analytics:
  • To understand, in aggregate, your usage of and across our Products, to accurately count people and businesses; and
  • To validate metrics directly related to these, in order to inform and improve product direction and development and to adhere to (shareholder/earning) reporting obligations.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content and messages, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users'
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Identifying you as a Meta Product user and personalizing the ads we show you through Meta Audience Network when you visit other apps:
  • When we show you ads through Meta Audience Network when you visit other apps, our systems automatically process the information we have collected and stored about you and others to identify you as a Meta Product user and tailor the ads you see.
  • Information you provide
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users'
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Providing marketing communications to you:
  • Depending on your settings and subject to applicable law, we’ll share marketing communications with you.
  • We’ll collect and store your information and use it to send marketing communications to you, like an email, subject to applicable laws.
  • Information and content you provide, including your contact information like email address
  • Device identifiers
Research and innovate for social good:
  • We carry out surveys and use information (including from researchers we collaborate with) to conduct and support research and innovation on topics of general social welfare, technological advancement, public interest, health and well-being.
  • For example, we analyze information that we have about migration patterns during crises. This helps relief organizations get aid to the right places.
  • We collect, store, combine, analyze and apply automatic processing techniques like aggregation of information as well as manual (human) review, and share information, as necessary to research and innovate for social good in this way.
  • We support research in areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Learn more about our research programs.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content and messages, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Anonymizing your information
In some cases, we anonymize information we have associated with you, such as your activity on and off our Products, and use the resulting information, for example, to provide and improve our Meta Products, including ads.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
Sharing information with others, including law enforcement and to respond to legal requests.
See the "How do we respond to legal requests, prevent harm and promote safety and integrity?" section of the Meta Privacy Policy for more for information on when we share information with law enforcement and others.
The categories of information we access, preserve, use and share depend on the specific circumstances. For example, responses to legal requests where not compelled by law will typically include limited information (such as contact details and login information).
However, the information we process will depend on the purposes, which could include the following:
  • In response to legal requests from third parties such as civil litigants, law enforcement and other government authorities
  • To comply with applicable law or legitimate legal purposes
  • To promote the safety, security and integrity of Meta Companies, Meta Products, users, employees, property and the public
Learn more about how we promote safety, security and integrity.
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Metadata about content, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make
  • Hashtags you use
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
For processing information when the law requires it: Where we are under an obligation to disclose information such as, for example, if we receive a valid legal request for certain information such as a search warrant, we will access, preserve and/or share your information with regulators, law enforcement or others.
The way in which the information will be processed depends on the specific circumstances. See the "How do we respond to legal requests, prevent harm and promote safety and integrity?" section of the Meta Privacy Policy for more. "Information for Law Enforcement Authorities" provides information on the operational guidelines law enforcement needs to follow.
The categories of information depend on the specific circumstances of each mandatory request or obligation. Only the information necessary to comply with the relevant legal obligation will be shared or otherwise processed. For example, for civil matters, this will typically include limited information (such as contact details and login information). However, depending on the circumstances it could include the following:
  • Content you create, like posts, comments or audio
  • Content you provide through our camera feature or your camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features
  • Messages you send and receive, including their content, subject to applicable law
  • Metadata about content and messages, subject to applicable law
  • Types of content you view or interact with, and how you interact with it
  • Apps and features you use, and what actions you take in them
  • Purchases or other transactions you make, including truncated credit card information
  • Hashtags you use
  • The time, frequency and duration of your activities on our Products
  • Device characteristics and device software
  • What you’re doing on your device, like whether our app is in the foreground or if your mouse is moving (which can help tell humans from bots)
  • Identifiers that tell your device apart from other users’
  • Device signals
  • Information you’ve shared through your device settings
  • Location-related information
  • Information about the network you connect your device to, including your IP address
  • Information from cookies and similar technologies
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