It is absolutely possible to delete your Facebook account and profile permanently. It is harder to find (I had to search the help section for "permanently delete" or something), and they give you two weeks to change your mind. Of course, they still have tons of information about you, but I am tired of hearing people claim that you can only deactivate your account.
I deleted mine two years ago, but not before downloading my data. I haven't ever gone through it, but now I am interested to see if they included call logs and stuff.
> I am tired of hearing people claim that you can only deactivate your account
I'm tired of FB (or anyone using similar tactics) hiding behind "but you can delete your account" while employing all manner of dark patterns and scare tactics to mess with people who want to do exactly that.
Maybe it's changed since you did it, but I walked a friend through it recently and it was painfully tedious (not just a bunch of "are you really, really sure"s, but a bunch of dark patterns trying to steer you away from or hide the option altogether).
I'd be surprised if even 1% of people who want to delete their account are successful.
Are you sure this was possible > 8 years ago? If I remember correctly, I researched this for quite some time then and didn't find any way of deleting the account and everything stored in it. But it's possible I overlooked the option, of course.
I believe in the past you had to open some kind of support request, as there wasn't an "automated" way to do it (and there was maybe still some kind of waiting period after having deactivated the account). It's certainly been made easier (they've gotten a lot of flack over the years oven this...)
I deleted mine two years ago, but not before downloading my data. I haven't ever gone through it, but now I am interested to see if they included call logs and stuff.