Meta

You are agreeing to give Meta a broad, transferable license to use your content for any purpose covered by the license.

“you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content”

What that means: You lose exclusive control over how your photos, videos, and posts are copied, shared, or modified by Meta or its partners.

The terms grant Meta a broad, perpetual, and transferable license to your user-generated content, allowing them to sublicense it to others even after you delete the content if it has been used by others.

You are agreeing to let Meta track your activity and interests to personalize the ads you see.

“We use your personal data, such as information about your activity and interests, to show you personalized ads and sponsored content that may be more relevant to you.”

What that means: Your online activity is monitored and analyzed to create a profile for targeted advertising purposes.

Meta uses data from your activity to target ads. While they do not sell raw personal data to advertisers, they build detailed profiles based on your behavior to serve commercial content.

You are agreeing to a delay in full deletion where data stays in backups for up to 90 days after the initial deletion process.

“After the content is deleted, it may take us up to another 90 days to remove it from backups and disaster recovery systems.”

What that means: Your data persists in backup systems long after you believe it is gone, and some shared content may remain visible even if you delete your account.

Even after you request deletion, your content remains on Meta's backup systems for up to 90 additional days. Deletion of accounts also does not automatically delete content posted as an admin or in shared albums.

You are agreeing that Meta’s total liability for any issues is capped at $100 or what you paid them, whichever is higher.

“our aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Meta Products will not exceed the greater of $100 or the amount you have paid us in the past twelve months.”

What that means: If something goes wrong with the service that causes you harm or loss, you cannot recover significant financial damages from Meta.

Meta disclaims warranties for their services being safe or error-free and limits their financial liability for any damages you suffer to a maximum of $100.

You are agreeing to resolve all disputes in specific courts in California, waiving the right to sue in your local jurisdiction.

“any claim, cause of action, or dispute between us that arises out of or relates to these Terms or your access or use of the Meta Products shall be resolved exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California or a state court located in San Mateo County.”

What that means: You must fight any legal battles against Meta in California, which is costly and inconvenient.

The contract mandates that all legal disputes be heard in specific courts in California. This restricts where you can file lawsuits and effectively prevents you from having a jury trial in your home jurisdiction or accessing local courts.

You are agreeing that Meta will retain deleted content in backups for up to 90 days after the initial deletion process completes.

“It may take up to 90 days to delete content after we begin the account deletion process... After the content is deleted, it may take us up to another 90 days to remove it from backups and disaster recovery systems.”

What that means: Your data is kept for a defined period after deletion requests, meaning it is still recoverable by Meta for up to several months.

The document explicitly states retention periods for deleted content in the primary system and in backups, totaling up to 180 days in some cases before data is fully purged from backups.

You are agreeing that while these terms cover Facebook, your use of Instagram is governed by a separate set of terms.

“your use of Instagram is subject to the Instagram Terms of Use”

What that means: Your rights and obligations may differ depending on whether you are using Facebook or a sister app like Instagram.

The document acknowledges that other Meta products like Instagram have separate terms. Using the main Facebook terms does not cover Instagram, requiring users to adhere to different rules for different sister apps.

You are agreeing that continued use of the service means you accept any updated terms Meta releases.

“we will notify you before we make changes to these Terms and give you an opportunity to review them before they go into effect. Once any updated Terms are in effect, you will be bound by them if you continue to access or use our Products.”

What that means: The rules of the service can change without your direct agreement, binding you simply by continuing to use the app.

Meta can change the terms at any time. They promise to notify you, but if you keep using the service after seeing the notice, you accept the new terms. There is no requirement for explicit consent like checking a box.