Have you noticed a contact in your Messenger inbox named 'Facebook User'? Don't worry - it's not necessarily spam.

Facebook User is a placeholder name for accounts that have been deactivated, deleted, or removed by Facebook. These accounts will also lack a profile picture and instead have the placeholder grey profile image.

Can I See Why An Account Is Called Facebook User?

If this person was your Facebook friend, you can usually see why their account is removed by following the steps below.

First, open your friends list via your Facebook profile.

Scroll down and click the friend that you believe is the Facebook user listed in your inbox - they should still appear by their old name in your friends list.

Click their name as if you were trying to visit their profile.

You will receive a popup stating that the account has been deactivated, deleted, or removed.

Can I Still Access Our Messaging History?

Yes, you can still access your full messaging history when a user has their account deactivated, deleted, or removed as long as you did not manually remove these messages from your end.

To do this, open Messenger and either click the message thread in your inbox, or access your archive to locate the correct thread.

Will They Receive My New Messages?

No - if a user has their account deactivated, deleted, or removed you will see a message in place of the messaging box that says 'This person is unavailable on Messenger'.

Can I Still Contact Them?

If you know the person's contact information outside of Facebook, yes - but there is no way to reach an individual within Facebook or Messenger if they are listed as unavailable.