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Terms of use

Meta

Meta Terms of Service

C

Risk score

46of 100

Open the original (new tab)Company page

In short

  • This agreement lets Meta show you personalized ads using your data and gives them broad rights to store, share, or delete your content.
  • You can delete your account, but it takes time and backups may remain.
  • If you stop reading this document, the terms allow Meta to change its rules with 30 days’ notice.

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 that Meta can use your personal data to personalize advertisements shown to you.

    This product

    “By using our Products, you agree that we can show you ads that we think may be relevant to you and your interests. We use your personal data to help determine which personalized ads to show you.”
  2. 02

    You are agreeing that Meta gets a worldwide license to use, copy, and distribute your content without compensation.

    Other products, stores, or brands

    “Specifically, when you share, post, or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights on or in connection with our Products, 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...”
  3. 03

    You are agreeing that Meta can change these Terms and bind you to new ones if you keep using the service.

    This product

    “We will notify you (for example, by email or through our Products) at least 30 days before we make changes to these Terms... Once any updated Terms are in effect, you will be bound by them if you continue to access or use our Products.”

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 that Meta can copy, modify, and sub-license your uploaded content for free.

“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: Meta retains legal permission to use your photos and posts even after you leave the platform.

The document grants Meta a broad, permanent license to use your content, including the right to sub-license it to others.

High cost

Unilateral changes with little or no notice

You are agreeing that silent usage after notice means you accept whatever new terms Meta publishes.

“Once any updated Terms are in effect, you will be bound by them if you continue to access or use our Products.”

What that means: You are legally tied to new rules as soon as you log back in after a 30-day warning.

You must actively leave the platform to reject changes; continuing to use the service binds you automatically.

Medium cost

Difficult or incomplete deletion

You are agreeing that deleting content from live feeds does not immediately wipe it from all storage systems.

“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 might remain in backup systems for months after you asked for it to be removed.

Data removal from backups is not immediate and can lag significantly behind your deletion request.

Medium cost

Liability shifted onto the user

You are agreeing that Meta provides its services 'as is' without guaranteeing they are perfectly secure.

“Our Products, however, are provided "as is," and to the extent permissible by law, we make no guarantees that they always will be safe, secure, or error-free...”

What that means: If the service fails or causes issues, Meta has limited liability under this contract.

The company provides services without warranties regarding security or performance.

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.