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Terms of use

Meta

Meta Terms of Service

D

Risk score

57of 100

Open the original (new tab)Company page

In short

  • These Terms of Service grant Meta broad permissions to use your content and data for advertising across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and other products.
  • You allow the company to change these terms with 30 days' notice, keeping you bound if you continue using the services.
  • The agreement also limits how much Meta is liable to you if things go wrong or data is lost.

What you accept

If you tap Agree

Everyday words for the material promises and rights you give up. Each line includes a quote from the document.

  1. 01

    You are agreeing to a broad license that lets Meta store, copy, modify, and share your photos and videos worldwide on other products.

    Other products, stores, or brands

    “you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content”
  2. 02

    You are agreeing that Meta can show ads using your name and profile picture next to sponsored content without paying you.

    This product

    “You give us permission to use your name and profile picture and information about actions you have taken on Facebook next to or in connection with ads”
  3. 03

    You are agreeing that deletion requests may take up to 180 days to fully complete due to backup systems.

    This product

    “It may take up to 90 days to delete content after we begin the account deletion process... After the content is deleted, it may take us up to another 90 days to remove it from backups”

What it can cost you

Downsides we could quote

Quoted clauses that can affect your privacy, money, or right to go to court — including terms that follow you to other products.

Highest-cost clauses first

High cost

Broad license to user content

You are agreeing to give Meta wide rights to use, modify, and share your uploaded content.

“you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content”

What that means: Your photos and posts can be used by Meta or its partners in new ways beyond simple hosting.

The contract allows Meta to reuse, modify, and sublicense your creative content across all its properties, not just what is necessary to display it to you.

High cost

Tracking you across apps

You are agreeing to let Meta track your behavior across other websites to serve you ads.

“We use data about the connections you make, the choices and settings you select, and what you share and do on and off our Products - to personalize your experience.”

What that means: Your movements and interests outside of Facebook are monitored and used to target you.

The terms explicitly state that Meta tracks your activity both on their sites and on external websites ('off our Products') to build your profile.

Medium cost

Unilateral changes with little or no notice

You are agreeing to follow new rules posted by Meta within 30 days of their announcement.

“We will notify you (for example, by email or through our Products) at least 30 days before we make changes to these Terms”

What that means: You might lose previous protections without immediate consent, forcing you to stop using the app to opt out.

Meta can update the terms with only 30 days' notice. If you keep using the service after that period, you must accept the new rules.

Medium cost

Difficult or incomplete deletion

You are agreeing to wait as long as 180 days for all traces of your data to vanish.

“After the content is deleted, it may take us up to another 90 days to remove it from backups and disaster recovery systems.”

What that means: Your data persists longer than expected, making it harder to guarantee total removal.

Deleting your account does not immediately erase everything. Significant delays are built into the process for technical reasons.

Medium cost

In-app charges or kids’ spending

You are agreeing to additional purchase rules when buying digital items like avatar clothing.

“Avatar Terms... These terms apply to the use of our Avatars and our Avatar features, including purchases and acquisitions of Avatar clothing in the Avatar store.”

What that means: Buying digital items for avatars triggers a separate set of financial rules you must agree to.

Specific supplemental terms govern virtual goods purchases, which often contain their own refund and spending policies.

Lower cost

Indefinite retention

You are agreeing to indefinite retention of your content if other users choose to repost it.

“Content will not be deleted... where your content has been used by others in accordance with this license and they have not deleted it”

What that means: You cannot force the removal of your own content if other people decide to keep sharing it.

If another user reposts your content, it remains visible and retained even after you delete your own version.

People also accept these terms in

The same company terms often apply on these apps or devices. This is a lookup aid, not a claim we caught this company.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Whatsapp
  • Meta Quest
  • Oculus

If these terms already apply to you

Keep this list. Fineprint cannot undo or cancel something you already agreed to at the company.

We cannot see Agree on their site. With Premium, tap “I accepted these terms” if you already agreed to what Meta asks.