Delete uploaded contacts on Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram basically offer the option of synchronizing your contacts or address book with the networks. This means: The contacts are read, uploaded to Meta servers (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) and stored there. This means that the networks can use them, for example, for advertising campaigns or similar things. Not everyone necessarily likes that.

Synchronization active?

Here you can see whether your Facebook app is syncing contacts or not:

By default, this synchronization should be deactivated - so you would have to consciously activate it on your own (or when prompted by the app). Some may think that they have never done this and may be right. But who knows? Finally, in April 2019, Facebook had to admit that users had uploaded billions of contacts without their knowledge since May 2016, several media outlets reported at the time.

If synchronization is active, Meta checks your cell phone's address book every day and reads the data in the saved contacts. This is on this Facebook page . You can see whether synchronization is deactivated or not in the Facebook and Instagram apps in the settings (in the picture you can see a screenshot of the Facebook app on Android). Facebook via the following route :

• Open settings (on Android via the three lines at the top right),
• Scroll down and tap Settings and Privacy, then Settings,
• Scroll down and tap Media and Contacts.

On Instagram the way is:

• Tap the three lines at the top right of your profile.
• Tap Settings,
• tap on account,
• Tap Contact Sync.

Two pages for deleting contacts

What if the contacts are already on Facebook? Then you should delete them as quickly as possible! On the one hand, there is a page where you can check and delete address books uploaded via the Facebook app or on the web. And there's another page where you can do the same for contacts submitted Facebook Messenger

So far, so nice, but there are still drops of bitterness - or rather puddles: Ultimately, only Facebook alone knows how final such deletions really are. But you do what you can, right?

Search and block your own data

If you want to know whether your phone numbers and email addresses are stored on Facebook or Instagram even though you have never provided them there, there is a way to do that too. You can enter your details on this Facebook page Facebook then checks whether they are included in uploaded address books and offers to block them. But: Of course, Meta also saves the data you enter - in order to block its use in the future. However, they should then no longer be used for other purposes. So you have to decide for yourself what you prefer.

Source:

Checked4you

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