Data Deletion Skepticism

Discussions center on skepticism that companies actually delete user data upon request, citing soft deletion practices, deactivation confusion, and legal or liability reasons for retention.

📉 Falling 0.4x Legal
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Comments
20
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5
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#7776
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Keywords

HN stackexchange.com brandur.org imgur.com ActivityPub i.e ycombinator.com GDPR delete deletion data deleted slack terms service account 24 hours deleting notification

Sample Comments

mariuolo • Jan 2, 2014 • View on HN

You know they won't actually delete your data, right?

hawleyal • May 13, 2013 • View on HN

The guy didn't delete his account, and is super surprised they keep old data. What did he expect?

DanBC • May 24, 2018 • View on HN

Why do you think users can delete their data at will?

theogravity • Mar 24, 2025 • View on HN

Just deleted my data. Who knows who will own it after this?

tedmiston • Feb 8, 2021 • View on HN

Their About page suggests that it's just that the data will be deleted.

darkerside • Jun 25, 2020 • View on HN

If they delete your data, it's likely that still happens, just without the red bar...

anonymous • Nov 17, 2013 • View on HN

What's the point? It is not like they will actually delete your data.

hh3k0 • Dec 24, 2018 • View on HN

He probably merely deactivated it and thought deactivation equals deletion. It does not.

FrenchDevRemote • May 26, 2022 • View on HN

you can't instantly delete user data because of safety/liability reasons

kerberos84 • Nov 22, 2017 • View on HN

you actually don't believe that they delete your data, do you?