Even if you don’t have a Facebook account, some of your contact data will be accessible to the Facebook database
You might not know it, but even after deleting your account, some of your data is still stored in Facebook’s database. Yes, your contact details may get stuck or even uploaded when someone syncs their contacts. This is not great for user privacy.
Fortunately, the Meta-owned company offers a secret tool that allows users to delete personal data such as phone numbers and emails from its database. Available from May 2022, this tool is hidden deep in Facebook’s help pages under a section for people who don’t use meta products. In this article, we have listed down the steps that you need to follow to perform the removal so that you do not have to wander around.
How to Check if Facebook Found Your Contact Details and Delete Them
1. First of all you have to go to the Contact Removal Tool page of Facebook.
2. Here you will be asked to look for your “Mobile Number”, “Landline Phone Number” or “Email Address”.
3. After selection, press “Next”.
4. Input your phone and choose where you want Meta to search for your number – Facebook or Instagram.
5. On tapping Next an OTP will be sent automatically to the phone number you entered earlier. Enter this OTP in the space that appears.
6. If your number is found, Facebook will show the option to delete and block it. Press “Confirm” to continue.
7. You can repeat this process and enter different phone numbers or email addresses to check whether Facebook has stored them secretly.
The option to “Block” your contact is a bit unclear. Does this mean that Facebook still stores it in its blacklist so that it can detect and block any re-uploads? Looks like a possibility. Unfortunately, there currently doesn’t seem to be a solution to this bonus problem.
