Facebook vs X

Meta collects information you provide, your activity, devices, contacts, and data from partners and third parties. In practice, this means Facebook can build a very detailed profile even from activity outside the app.

The policy says Meta receives information through cookies, pixels, and similar technologies from other websites and apps. This can connect your off-Facebook browsing and app activity back to your account or ad profile.

Some information is public by default, and public content can be viewed, reshared, downloaded, and even appear off Meta. Users should assume public posts may travel far beyond Facebook.

By posting content, you grant Meta a worldwide, sublicensable license to use, modify, distribute, and create derivatives. That gives Meta wide operational freedom to reuse what you upload while it remains on its systems.

Account or content deletion can take up to 90 days, plus another 90 days to remove copies from backups and disaster recovery systems. Some content can also be retained longer for legal, safety, or technical reasons.

Meta states it does not sell your personal data to advertisers and does not share directly identifying information without permission. That is better than a true data-selling model, though it still uses your data for ad targeting.

You can delete individual content, delete your account, and trash items begin a deletion process automatically after 30 days. The policy also says deleted items are removed from visibility while deletion is pending.

Facebook uses your personal data to show personalized ads and sponsored content, including across Meta products and sometimes off-platform. Even though Meta says it does not sell your personal data, your activity is still used for targeted advertising.

Meta can remove content, restrict features, suspend, disable, or delete accounts for serious or repeated violations, often in its discretion. Some review explanations may be withheld for safety, legal, or technical reasons.

Meta says you can download your information and, in some cases and subject to law, port it. This gives users at least some ability to take their data elsewhere.

For consumers, disputes are governed by the law of your country and may be brought in competent local courts. That is more user-friendly than forcing all users into a distant arbitration forum.

Meta says it will notify users at least 30 days before material Terms changes, unless the change is required by law. That gives users a chance to review updates before they take effect.

Posting gives X a worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, modify, publish, distribute, and display your content in any media. This is much broader than what is strictly needed just to host your posts.

X expressly says it can analyze your content and use it to improve services, including training machine learning and AI models. Users who post may therefore help train AI systems without additional payment.

X collects the contents of Direct Messages, along with recipients, timestamps, and metadata for encrypted messages. Users should not assume ordinary messaging on the service is private from the platform.

X can let other companies, organizations, or individuals use or redistribute your content, including syndication, broadcast, and publication on other media and services. That expands downstream use beyond the platform itself.

X states you will not be paid for its use of your content or for others' licensed uses. The terms treat your ability to use the service as sufficient compensation.

X says it may collect log information even if you do not have an account or are signed out, including pages visited, search terms, ads shown, and cookie identifiers. That means tracking can extend beyond active account use.

X may associate your account with browsers, devices, email addresses, phone numbers, and signed-out identifiers to infer identity. This can make it harder to stay compartmentalized across devices or sessions.

X collects information about your interactions with ads served on X and off X, including views, clicks, and video engagement. This supports ad profiling based on behavior across contexts.

X automatically collects approximate location and can collect precise location if you enable it. Location data can be sensitive, especially when combined with activity and ad profiles.

X says you still own the content you create and post. That is better than an ownership transfer, though it is paired with a very broad license back to X.

If you use features that limit distribution to a restricted community, X says it will respect that choice. This is a useful transparency point, though it does not undo the broad underlying license.