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Data Deletion for Experience Cloud Sites

Sometimes it’s necessary to delete a customer’s personal data to comply with various data protection and privacy regulations. We give you examples of common requests and things to consider, so you can comply with the regulations that apply to you.

Required Editions

Available in: All Editions
Note
Note Beginning in Summer ’26, Chatter is turned off by default in all new orgs. For any features in these orgs that require access to Chatter functionality or the Chatter APIs, turn on Chatter by going to Setup | Chatter Settings and selecting Enable. For details, see Chatter Is Turned Off by Default in New Orgs Beginning in Summer ’26.

Many data protection and privacy regulations can require you to delete customers’ personal data when customers request it, or when it’s no longer necessary to keep it. We’ve listed a few of the regulations that are important to many companies collecting and processing their customers’ data.

  • General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), European Union
  • Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Japan
  • Privacy Act, Australia

If you have customers or users who want the data that you’ve collected on them deleted, review these common requests and the procedures related to them.

Common Customer Request Actions to Consider Things to Consider
My customer wants her Chatter feed activities, such as bookmarks, comments, and votes, removed from a site .
  • Will your customer agree to preserving Chatter feed activities in the site if her identifying information has been removed from them?
  • Is there any data that you have the right to retain?
My customer wants his files and content folders to be deleted. Find and delete the content and content folders via SOAP API.
  • Does the customer know how to make this request?
  • Is there any data that you have the right to retain? Review the terms of service with the customer.
  • Is the customer aware that his data is lost after it’s deleted?
  • Are there other places in the site where your customer might have stored this data?
A customer wants us to remove her Chatter posts from a group.
  • Find and delete feed elements and feed comments via Connect REST API.
  • Remove and change personally identifying information in the user’s profile.
  • Do you want to delete all the customer’s posts?
  • Are you legally required to remove their posts? Review the terms of service with the customer.
My customer wants his identifying information removed from posts in a site.
  • Remove and change personally identifying information in the user’s profile.
  • Find and delete identifying content in posts via Connect REST API.
  • Find and delete feed tracked changes that contain personally identifying information via SOAP API.
  • Consider other ways that this customer's personal information might be revealed in Chatter posts.
  • Search free-text fields for personally identifying information.
  • Search feed-tracked changes for personally identifying information.
My customer shared personal information in a Chatter post. How do we remove it?
  • Find and delete posts via Connect REST API.
  • Update the post via SOAP API.
 Does the user have permission to edit and delete posts?
My customer wants her information withheld from posts that she’s flagged. Find and delete records for the userId via SOAP API.
  • Does the customer know how to make this request?
  • Is there any data that you have the right to retain? Review the terms of service with the customer.
  • Is the customer aware that her data is lost after it’s deleted?
  • Are there other places that this data is stored? Search and identify all the places where data might be stored.
My customer requests that his phone number and email address be removed from a Chatter message.
  • A user with Manage Chatter Messages permission on the org can:
    • Delete the message using the ChatterMessage sObject delete() method.
    • Update the message body using the ChatterMessage sObject update() method, redacting the user's personal information.
  • In a community, the user requesting to be forgotten can flag the message. Then a user with Moderate Chatter Messages permission can use moderation to delete the flagged message.
  • Will your customer agree to preserving Chatter feed activities in the site if his identifying information has been removed from them?
  • Is there any data that you have the right to retain? Review the terms of service with the customer.
  • Is the customer aware that his data is lost after it’s deleted?
  • Are there other places in the site where your customer might have stored this data? Search and identify all the places where data might be stored.
A customer asks that all her direct messages be removed.
  • Find and delete feed elements and feed comments via Connect REST API.
  • In a community, the user can flag message posts or comments. Then a user with the Moderate Chatter Messages permission can use moderation to delete the flagged message.
  • Will your customer agree to preserving Chatter feed activities in the site if her identifying information has been removed from them?
  • Is there any data that you have the right to retain? Review the terms of service with the customer.
  • Is the customer aware that her data is lost after it’s deleted?
  • Are there other places in the site where your customer might have stored this data? Search and identify all the places where data might be stored.