Bill Gates may have splashed cash on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean he has to be on it. U.K.’s tabloid newspaper, The Sun, reported last week that the Microsoft billionaire had to delete his Facebook account after being hassled by thousands of fans.

The story also said Gates used to spend up to 30 minutes a day catching up with his buddies via Facebook, but he signed off after he started getting more than 8,000 friend requests a day and “spotted weird fan sites.”

But can Gates have really deleted his Facebook account? The New York Times reported earlier this week that being a member might mean you’ve signed a “lifetime contract” with Facebook. Apparently, Facebook servers keep copies of user information even after they have deactivated accounts, although the network responded to the story, saying it’s made it easier for users to delete their accounts permanently.

Facebook’s got ya, Gates.

Photo: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Reuters file