# Facebook OSINT in 2026: what still works, what died, and where the trail continues

Last verified: 9 September 2026. Facebook Graph Search was shut down for the public in June 2019. In November 2025 Meta made changes that broke most tools walking the social graph from a numeric user ID to likes, comments and interactions (source: the r/osinttools thread "Facebook OSINT tools broken", 10 February 2026, 45 upvotes). What survives is Facebook's own filtered keyword search, URL-builder front ends, numeric ID lookup, Google site: dorks, and the copies of Facebook content that were posted elsewhere.

## What renders without an account
- A profile URL (facebook.com/username) returns the person's name and page title to a logged-out visitor, then a login prompt.
- Public Pages, public Groups and Marketplace listings render more of their content logged-out.
- facebook.com/public/ is a name directory, not a search engine.
- Third-party "profile viewer" sites show the same public data; none reaches private content. Sites promising to unlock locked profiles are scams.

## What replaced Graph Search
- Facebook keyword search with type and date filters (posts, people, photos, videos, groups, events): the only search that sees what your session sees.
- graph.tips and sowsearch.info: URL builders that apply filters (posts by keyword, people by city, school, employer, photos, events, Pages). Online on 9 September 2026; graph.tips describes itself as experimental.
- Who Posted What (whopostedwhat.com): keyword search by day, month, year or range, location filter, posts by numeric user ID. Its Instagram date filter has been disabled since 12 May 2021.
- Google dorks: site:facebook.com "phrase", site:facebook.com/groups "keyword". Works logged-out, limited to what Meta lets Google index.

## Numeric ID lookup
Every profile, Page and Group has a permanent numeric ID behind its vanity URL. Logged in: view page source, search for "userID" or "entity_id". Converters such as lookup-id.com resolve public profile, Page and Group URLs to IDs. facebook.com/profile.php?id=NUMBER resolves the account after a username change.

## Tool status on 9 September 2026
- Facebook keyword search: working.
- graph.tips, sowsearch.info, Who Posted What, lookup-id.com: online.
- Google site: dorks: working.
- Graph Search: dead since June 2019.
- Interaction scrapers (ID to likes and comments): broken since November 2025; no working public replacement found.
- Profile viewer sites: public data only.

## Deleted posts and accounts
Deleted posts sit in Trash for 30 days, then are permanently deleted. Archived posts stay in Archive indefinitely, visible only to the owner. Deactivated accounts keep everything and reactivate on login. Deleted accounts have a 30-day grace period, then deletion takes up to 90 days. Someone else's deleted post has no recovery path through Facebook; what can survive is a copy made while it was public: a Wayback Machine snapshot (the Internet Archive captured facebook.com/zuck on 10 August 2026, showing the logged-out view), a notification email, a share, a screenshot, or a Reddit thread quoting it.

## The Facebook trail on Reddit
Reddit posts and comments mentioning "facebook" in THINKPOL's archive: 6.7 million in 2023, 6.5 million in 2024, 6.2 million in 2025, 4.0 million in 2026 to date. Marketplace scam reports, screenshots of since-deleted posts, group links and profile URLs are posted to r/Scams, r/legaladvice and city subreddits. When the Facebook original is deleted the Reddit copy stays; when the Reddit post is deleted the archive still holds it. Free search: https://think-pol.com/tools/reddit-search?q=facebook.com%2F

## What THINKPOL adds today
THINKPOL does not archive Facebook. It archives Reddit: 30 billion posts and comments since 2005, captured at publication, deleted content retained, full-text search under 300 ms, EU-hosted, GDPR Article 6(1)(f). For a Facebook case it covers the Reddit side of the trail, including deleted posts and the Reddit accounts that share a Facebook handle. Meta platforms are behind Telegram, Discord and the Fediverse on THINKPOL's roadmap.

Source: https://think-pol.com/facebook-osint