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?