Facebook now lets you delete those embarrassing old posts in one go - here's how to do it

(Photo: Shutterstock)(Photo: Shutterstock)
(Photo: Shutterstock)

Facebook has been the king of the social media castle for years now, meaning that by this point, some of us have been logged into our accounts for well over a decade.

For those lucky to be young enough, while your page may exude that professional image you've cultivated for yourself, digging back a few years reveals a treasure trove of embarrassing teenage posts and integrity threatening content.

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You've always been able to delete it, but doing so meant scrolling back manually, reliving horrific memories of explosive breakups and one too many blue WKDs first hand.

So what if there was an easier way to exorcise the digital ghosts of your past? Thankfully, now there is...

How to manage your activity

Facebook's new 'Manage Activity' feature allows users to delete to multiple posts at once.

No longer do you have to trawl through a quagmire of triggering posts and cringe inducing status updates.

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Instead, you can now search for and remove posts from a particular time, mentioning a particular person, or within a range of dates.

“We know that people’s posts from years ago may not represent who they are now," Facebook said in a statement, "eg old Facebook statuses from university."

The new feature gives you the option to set sensitive posts for your eyes only, hiding them from others but keeping them in an archive in case you do need a reminder of how far you've come sometimes.

Of course, you can just delete everything outright if that's more your bag, by sending it to the 'trash'.

(Photo: Shutterstock)(Photo: Shutterstock)
(Photo: Shutterstock)
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“We believe people should have the ability to manage and control their data," said Facebook, "and we will continue to develop new ways to honour people’s privacy by providing greater transparency and controls."

Posts sent to the trash will stay there for 30 days before being deleted, unless you choose to manually delete or restore them before them.

"This gives you some wiggle room in case you change your mind about deleting old posts," said Facebook.

Manage Activity will launch first on Facebook's mobile app, and will be available on desktop "in the future"

'Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth'

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The new feature comes as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared to side with Donald Trump in the President's row with social media outlets, sparked by Twitter's addition of a fact-check label to his tweets for the first time.

Signing an executive order revising a US law that protects social media platforms from being responsible for content posted by their users, Trump accused Twitter and other networks of "completely stifling free speech".

He claimed that he, "as president, will not allow it to happen".

Facebook's chief executive said censoring a social media platform would not be the "right reflex" for a government concerned about censorship in an interview with Fox News.

"I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online," he said.