# "What goes on the internet stays there forever" is that really true or just an old wives tale?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-the-internet-stays-there-forever-is-that-really-true-or-just-an-old-wives-tale/970091>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 22, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-the-internet-stays-there-forever-is-that-really-true-or-just-an-old-wives-tale/970091 "2022-08-22T15:06:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 11

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-goes-on-the-internet-stays-there-forever-is-that-really-true-or-just-an-old-wives-tale/970091/11 "2022-08-24T03:13:11Z")

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It’s not that it automatically lasts forever; it’s that you have absolutely no control over what happens to the content you post. Best practice is to assume that every single thing you post will end up mirrored, disseminated, and stored in one manner or another.

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