[Tip] How to Delete Your Social Network or Email Accounts – November 15, 2023

UPDATE: Threads users can now permanently delete their account without deleting their Instagram account. Article updated with new information.

Do you want to deactivate or delete your exiting email ID or social networking account? Do you have some unused user accounts at popular email service providers or social networking websites which you no longer use and want to close them? Do you get lots of spam emails and messages in your email account and want to delete your account permanently? If yes, you have come to the right place.

We are sure there are many people who face such problems and want to completely remove their email IDs and social network accounts for obvious reasons. Actually many times we create e-mail IDs and accounts on various e-mail service providers and social networks just for fun or to test the services and after some time we realize that it’s of no use. We should delete those extra accounts so that other people can get those IDs.

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Some of the popular email service providers and social networking websites are Microsoft Outlook (Hotmail, MSN, Live), Google (Gmail, YouTube), Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Telegram, Google Plus and Orkut.

The good thing is that almost all e-mail service providers and social networking websites provide official ways to permanently deactivate and delete your account but most of the time such options are not accessible directly and you need to find them by going through various steps.

Today in this topic, we are going to provide direct links to delete or close your accounts at various popular email service providers and social networking websites permanently.

Let’s discuss the procedures to deactivate or delete email accounts and social networking accounts easily:

1. How to Delete a Microsoft Account (Outlook/Hotmail/MSN/Windows Live)

1. Open following link:

Delete Microsoft Account (Outlook, MSN, Hotmail, Windows Live)

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If the above link doesn’t work for you, go to following link:

Close Microsoft Account

2. Enter your email ID and password.

3. Click on “Close account” button.

4. Your account will be reserved for 270 days so that if you want to reactivate it, you can do within 270 days. After 270 days, it’ll be deleted permanently and you’ll not be able to reactivate it.

2. How to Delete a Google Account (Gmail/YouTube/Google+)

1. Open following link:

Delete Gmail Account

2. Enter your username and password.

3. Click on the checkbox and enter another e-mail address which you want to use to log into your Google account to access other Google services.

4. Enter your password and click on “Remove Gmail” button and your Gmail account will be deleted within 2 business days.

Once your Gmail account is deleted, you’ll not be able to reactivate it or to retrieve messages.

PS: If you want to close or delete your Google+ profile or whole Google account, then check following links:

Delete Google+ Profile

Delete Google Account

3. How to Delete Your Yahoo! Email Account

1. Just head on to:

Delete Yahoo! Account

2. Enter your Yahoo! account credentials and confirm the request. Your account will be deleted within 90 days.

4. How to Delete Your Telegram Account

1. Open following link:

Delete Telegram Account

2. Enter your mobile number which you use to sign into your Telegram account and click on Next button.

3. The next page will ask to enter a confirmation code. Check the Telegram app in your mobile phone. You’ll receive a new message containing the confirmation code in Telegram app. Enter the confirmation code on the webpage and click on Sign In button.

4. Now click on Delete Account link given on the next page. Again click on the Delete My Account button. Telegram will ask for confirmation, click on “Yes, delete my account” button.

It’ll immediately delete your Telegram account and you’ll be signed out from Telegram app in your smartphone.

5. How to Delete Your Facebook Account

1. Log into your Facebook account and click on “Account -> Account Settings” link given in the right corner.

2. It’ll open Settings page. Click on “deactivate” link under “Deactivate Account” section.

Or you can directly click on following link to deactivate your Facebook account:

Deactivate Facebook Account

3. Select any desired option in “Why are you deactivating:” section and click on “Deactivate My Account” button.

PS: Above procedure will only deactivate your account. If you want to permanently delete your Facebook account, use following link instead:

Delete Facebook Account Permanently

Thanks to our reader “Conor Duffy” for mentioning the above link…

6. How to Delete Your Twitter Account

1. Log into your Twitter account and click on “Settings” link given in the right corner.

2. It’ll open Account Settings page. Click on “Deactivate my account” link given at the end of the page.

Or you can directly click on following link to deactivate your Twitter account:

Delete / Deactivate Twitter Account

3. It’ll ask for confirmation, again click on “Okay, fine, deactivate my account” button.

7. How to Delete Your LinkedIn Account

1. Log into your LinkedIn account and click on “Settings” link given in the right corner.

2. It’ll open Settings page. Click on “Close Your Account” link under “Personal Information” section.

Or you can directly click on following link to deactivate your LinkedIn account:

Delete / Deactivate LinkedIn Account

3. Select any desired option in “Close Account Reason” section and click on “Continue” button.

8. How to Delete Your Instagram Account

1. Log into your Instagram account and open “Settings” page.

2. Go to Account Settings page and click on “Delete account” link given on the page.

Or you can directly click on following link to deactivate your Twitter account:

Delete / Deactivate Instagram Account

3. It’ll ask for confirmation, accept it.

9. How to Delete Meta Threads Account

Threads (Meta’s alternative to Twitter) is connected with your Instagram account. Deleting your Threads account without deleting Instagram account isn’t possible at the moment. You can delete or temporarily deactivate your Threads account using following steps:

1. Open Threads app in your smartphone and tap on Profile icon present on the bottom bar.

2. Tap on 2-lines hamburger menu icon present at the top-right corner to open Settings page.

3. Tap on Account and then select “Delete or Deactivate Profile” option.

4. It’ll ask for confirmation, accept it.

If you deactivate your Threads account, it’ll hide your profile, posts/contents, likes and followers from others. It’ll not delete your account. You can reactivate your account by logging back in.

If you select the option to delete your Threads account, your profile, posts/contents, likes and followers will be hidden for 30 days. After 30 days, your Threads account will be permanently deleted.

10. How to Delete Your Orkut Account

1. Open following link:

Delete Orkut Account (Orkut social networking service has been discontinued by Google)

2. Enter your username and password.

3. Click on the checkbox and enter your password. Now click on “Remove orkut” button and your Orkut account will be deleted.

That’s it. Using above mentioned simple steps, you’ll be able to delete your email or social networking website account quickly and easily.

Also Check:

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Published in: Mobiles and Internet, Troubleshooting Guides

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

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