Threads vs Facebook

Meta says it may collect information even if you do not have an account or are not logged in. That means people can be tracked through partner sites, cookies, or others’ uploads without signing up.

Meta collects information you provide, your activity, device and network data, contacts, cookies, and data from partners and third parties. In practice, using Threads can feed a very broad profiling system.

Your activity, connections, location, and third-party activity may be used to personalize ads on and off Meta products. This expands profiling beyond what you do inside the app itself.

Content set as public can be seen, reshared, downloaded, and indexed off-platform, including by search engines and third parties. Once public, practical control over redistribution is limited.

Account or content deletion may take up to 90 days, plus up to another 90 days to clear backups. Some data may also be retained longer for legal, safety, or policy reasons.

Consumers can bring disputes in courts in their home country under local law, rather than being pushed into mandatory arbitration. This preserves a more user-friendly path for legal claims.

You keep ownership of your posts, but grant Meta a license to use them to provide and improve its services. This is common for social platforms, but still gives Meta broad operational rights over your content.

Meta shares information across its family of companies for safety, features, analytics, and product development. This can increase how much of your activity is linked across services.

Meta may remove content, suspend, or delete accounts for rule violations, inactivity, or legal reasons, sometimes without advance notice. While review options may exist, access can still be cut off broadly.

Meta states it does not sell your personal information or directly identify you to advertisers without permission. This is meaningful, though it still permits extensive ad targeting and reporting.

Users are offered tools to view, manage, download, port, and delete information. These controls can help users leave the service or audit what Meta holds about them.

Meta can update the terms with 30 days’ notice, and continued use means acceptance. This is less harsh than immediate unilateral changes, but still shifts the burden to users to monitor updates.

Meta collects a very broad range of data, including activity, device details, contacts, location, cookies, and partner data, even in some cases without an account. In practice, using Facebook can involve tracking across devices, services, and third-party sites.

Your personal data is used to target and measure ads on and off Meta products. This means your behavior and inferred interests help shape advertising across Facebook's ecosystem.

You keep ownership of your posts, photos, and videos, but grant Meta a worldwide, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free license to use and modify them for service operation. This is a broad permission that continues until content is fully deleted.

Meta can use your name, profile photo, and ad-related actions next to sponsored content without paying you. Your social activity may therefore be used to endorse ads to others who can view that activity.

Public posts and profile information can be copied, reshared, downloaded, or indexed off-platform, including by search engines and third parties. Once something is public, practical control over it can be hard to regain.

Apps and websites connected through Facebook Login or integrations may access non-public information, and may retain data you already shared even after access expires. That creates ongoing privacy exposure outside Meta's direct control.

Facebook is provided 'as is' and Meta disclaims warranties while limiting liability for indirect and consequential damages as far as law allows. If the service causes losses or disruptions, user remedies may be narrow.

The policy expressly provides rights to access, correct, download, port, erase, object, and complain to a regulator. These are meaningful user protections, especially in regions covered by data protection law.

Consumer disputes are generally governed by the law of your home country and can be brought in competent local courts. This is more user-friendly than mandatory arbitration or exclusive foreign forum clauses for consumers.

Deleting content or an account is not immediate: primary deletion may take up to 90 days, with up to another 90 days for backups, and some data may be kept longer for legal or safety reasons. Users should not expect instant erasure.

Meta says it does not sell your personal data to advertisers or share direct identifiers like your name or email without specific permission. That reduces one common privacy risk, though substantial ad profiling and reporting still occur.

Meta says it will usually give at least 30 days' notice before material terms changes take effect. That gives users some time to review changes and decide whether to keep using the service.