![](https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/ae7746f1-28c4-4072-b93e-3d9684900162.webp)
Yes, posts can remain on some rogue servers forever.
Up until recently, deleted posts were stored in all server’s databases forever, just with a deleted flag next to them. It was recently changed to purge after 30 days. Even so, someone could setup a server that ignores all deletes and will still retain them forever.
For privacy, editing your post first may be useful as that seems to propagate faster. This could still suffer from the same rogue server issue not respecting edits.
This is a problem that doesn’t seem to have an answer yet.
I assumed it was trying to feast on the goo inside.