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Terms of use

Meta

Meta Terms of Service

D

Risk score

53of 100

Open the original (new tab)Company page

In short

  • Meta requires you to use Facebook and related services in exchange for allowing them to show personalized ads based on your data.
  • You agree that they can use, share, and keep your content even after deletion for specific legal or operational reasons.
  • Your account may be suspended or deleted at their discretion for violations, with no guarantee of the service's reliability.

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 grant Meta a broad, transferable license to use your content worldwide.

    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 to let Meta delete your content from active systems within 90 days, but it may remain in backups longer.

    This product

    “After the content is deleted, it may take us up to another 90 days to remove it from backups and disaster recovery systems.”
  3. 03

    You are agreeing to accept liability waivers where Meta provides services "as is" without guarantees.

    This product

    “Our Products, however, are provided "as is," ... we make no guarantees that they always will be safe, secure, or error-free”

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 let Meta use, share, and modify your content with third parties.

“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 can share or reuse your photos and videos with other companies without your specific permission.

The terms allow Meta to sublicense and transfer rights to your content broadly, far beyond what is strictly necessary to display posts to friends.

High cost

Liability shifted onto the user

You are agreeing that Meta holds no liability for service disruptions or data loss.

“we DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES ... To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law under no circumstance will we be liable to you for any lost profits, revenues, information, or data”

What that means: You cannot seek compensation if Meta loses your data or the service fails.

Meta disclaims all responsibility for service failures or data loss, shifting all risk to you.

High cost

Tracking you across apps

You are agreeing to have your activity and interests tracked for ad targeting.

“We use your personal data, such as information about your activity and interests, to show you personalized ads and sponsored content”

What that means: Meta monitors your online activity to serve tailored advertisements.

The company tracks your behavior and interests across the platform to build a profile for targeted advertising.

Medium cost

Difficult or incomplete deletion

You are agreeing to delayed deletion of your data in backup 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 personal information remains accessible in internal archives long after it appears deleted.

Even after you request deletion, copies of your data remain stored in backup systems for an extended period.

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.