We may earn commissions when you buy from links on our site. Why you can trust us.

The Complete Guide to Facebook Privacy Settings

by Suzanne Kantra on February 27, 2024

Updated on 2/27/2024. Removed privacy options for features no longer available, added new screenshots, and updated instructions on setting currently available privacy options.

Privacy issues and privacy controls on Facebook are ever-changing and confusing. I've read through hundreds of comments and emails from readers just like you who are frustrated and unsure about how to keep their information safe.

For example, when you post a picture of your kids at a family gathering, how can you control who has permission to share it? What private information are those Facebook game apps collecting, and who are these "third parties" they sell it to? How do you make sure that your live video stream is seen only by the people you choose?

Every action you take on Facebook has privacy and sharing implications you should understand before uploading that next selfie. Unfortunately, checking all of your Facebook settings takes a lot of time, and even then, the best choices for protecting your privacy aren't always obvious.

I just went through a complete review of every Facebook privacy setting currently available to determine what options we have for managing our privacy and what the best settings are for most people (and I'll continue to update this article as Facebook inevitably makes more changes). If you have a specific privacy concern, you can address it directly through your Facebook settings. Though for a broad check of all of your privacy settings, I recommend starting with Facebook's Privacy Checkup, which you can do through your computer browser or the Facebook app (go to Menu > Settings > Privacy Checkup).

Either way, I'll walk you through each setting below so you can confidently decide the right changes for you. For each section, I share my recommendations for each topic and what to consider when making your choices. I also have direct links to "hidden" Facebook settings that aren't part of the standard Privacy Checkup but have important privacy implications.

Who can see your profile information

Who can see your profile information

Here you can see the privacy settings – who can view your information – for your phone number, email addresses, birthday, hometown, relationship status, and other personal details about your life.

See how other people view your Facebook profile page

Before you start adjusting your privacy settings, take a look at what your Facebook profile looks like to other people. You can go to your profile page and click on menu button (the triple dots under the "Edit Profile" button) and select "View As."

The phone numbers associated with your Facebook account

Strong recommendation: Only Me

Under phone number, you'll see the phone number(s) associated with your account and who can view it. Your number is very important because it can be used to reset your Facebook password. By revealing your phone number, you are making it more vulnerable to SIM swapping, where a hacker contacts your carrier (in-store or on the phone) and convinces them to get a new SIM card with your number or port your phone number to another phone. Once the hacker has control of your number, they can receive codes to break into accounts protected by two-factor authentication

To delete or add a phone number, go to your profile page > About > Contact and basic info.

The email addresses associated with your Facebook account

My recommendation: Only Me

Under emails, it will show all email addresses associated with your account and who can view them. Email addresses are important because you can use any of them to log into your account with your Facebook password. Be careful to remove any old email addresses or ones where you're not using secure passwords, because if that email address is hacked, it could compromise your Facebook account, as well.

I recommend limiting your email to "Only Me." The people you know should have your email address and if you accidentally accept an invitation from a friend's spoofed Facebook account, that hacker will have access to your email address.

To add or delete and email address, go to your profile page > About > Contact and basic info.

Your birthday

My recommendation: Friends

For your birthday, you can choose to share your whole birthday or just the month and day. That way, your Friends can wish you a happy birthday on Facebook on your special day without necessarily knowing your exact age. Birthdays are sometimes used as a security verification for various services, so you want to keep it protected.

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Contact and basic info.

Your hometown and current city

My recommendation: Only Me

For your hometown and current city, you may want to limit it to "Only Me" so you hackers can't use that personal information for social engineering. Your friends know where you live and can ask you where you grew up if they don't know.

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Places lived.

Your relationship status

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you have set a relationship with another Facebook user, it will be shared unless you set it otherwise.

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Family and relationships.

Your work history and where you went to school

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can choose to share your work history and where you went to high school, college, and graduate school. This setting may help old friends find you or for networking purposes.

To change this info, go to your profile page > About > Work and education.

Your friends list on your profile page

Strong recommendation: Friends or Only Me

I highly recommend setting this to Friends only or even "Only Me." Keeping your Friends list public puts your friends at risk for account cloning scams. The scam only works when the person behind it can contact your friends pretending to be you to request money or send phishing messages, such as the classic "Is this you?" video scam.

To change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for How People Find and Contact You.

The people and Pages you follow

My recommendation: Personal choice

Facebook lumps people and Pages you follow together. Consider whether there are any sensitive Pages you follow that you wouldn't want the world or your Friends to know about.

To change this setting, go to your profile page > Friends > menu (the triple dots next to "Find Friends") > Edit privacy.

Choose your audience for Posts and Stories

In this section, you can select who can read your future posts and stories, as well as read your prior posts on Facebook.

Choose your default audience

My recommendation: Friends or Custom

"Default audience" is where you set who will see your regular posts, including text posts, photos, and videos. My advice is to keep it to Friends unless you are trying to promote yourself to everyone or you have a specific need for a Custom setting (e.g., to exclude a toxic friend or relative).

You can choose who can see your future posts by going directly to the Facebook Settings page for Posts.

You can always override your default setting for a specific post at the time you create it by clicking on the downward caret next to the audience and selecting a new one.

When you are tagged in a post created by someone else, choose who can see the post (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Strong recommendation: Only Me

If you are tagged in a post by someone on Facebook, your Facebook friends may see the post in their feeds even if they aren't friends with the original poster. This is a huge privacy and scam risk because someone can tag you in a photo that you do not want to be associated with, whether it's an embarrassing photo from last night's drink fest or a pure spam post (which I have seen tons of in my feed). So I strongly recommend setting this to "Only Me".

You can choose who can see posts you're tagged in by going directly to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Tagging" section.

Choose who can post on your profile (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Friends

My advice is to keep it to Friends, unless you enjoy random comments from strangers.

If you want to check or change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Viewing and sharing" section.

Choose who can see what others post on your profile page (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You may not want everyone to see what other people are posting on your profile page. If you want to check or change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Viewing and sharing" section.

Choose to hide comments with specific words on your profile page (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you're concerned about crude language appearing on your profile page, you can add up to 1,000 keywords that will cause a post to be hidden. The post will still remain visible to the people who posted and their Facebook Friends.

If you want to check or change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the "Viewing and sharing" section. Though you're probably better off just limiting who can post to your profile to Friends (unless your friends are the problem!)

Choose to review posts you're tagged in before they appear on your profile (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Turn this on

If you are tagged in a post, the post defaults to automatically showing up on your Timeline. I recommend you choose the setting to review the posts before they appear to avoid embarrassing or spam posts appearing in your timeline. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the Reviewing section.

Choose to review tags people add to your posts before they appear on Facebook (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Turn this on

Posting an old photo from a school or work outing? Once you share it, your Facebook Friends may want to tag more people in the photo. By default, your Facebook Friends can add tags. However, you can choose to review these tags before they appear on your post. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Profile and Tagging, and you'll find the option in the Reviewing section.

Choose who can comment on your public posts (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

When you create a public post, everyone on Facebook can see it. However, you can limit who gets to comment on your public posts. You can choose this setting based on your posting objectives.

If you want to check or change this setting, the Facebook Settings page for Followers and public content.

Choose who can comment on your public profile pictures and other public profile information (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Friends

When you post a new profile picture or change other Public profile information, the default setting is that only Friends (and Frends of anyone tagged) can like or comment. I recommend leaving this setting as is.

To change this setting, go to the Facebook Settings page for Followers and public content.

Find and remove old posts from your Timeline that you were tagged in (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Ever been tagged in an embarrassing photo from two decades ago uploaded by that old college classmate? You can remove these tagged items by going to your profile page (you can access it by clicking on your profile photo in the side menu bar) and click on Manage Posts.

In the box that pops up, click on "Filters." In the Post Filters box, you can select "only show posts I'm tagged in." You can choose to hide the posts or remove the posts. First, go through and select the posts where you want to remove yourself (untag yourself), click "Next," and select "Remove Tags." Then go through and select the posts that you want to be able to view but don't want others to see in your Timeline, click Next, and then select "Hide Posts."

Choose who can view old posts

My recommendation: Turn on Limit Past Posts

When you limit your past posts here, it will apply to ALL of your posts, including Public posts those share with "Friends of Friends," to only Friends. Unless you're a celebrity or running a page that is used to generate interest in a business that you run, you will likely want to keep your activity restricted to those you have Friended. Keep in mind that anyone who is tagged in your posts and their Facebook friends may still be able to view these posts.

You can choose who can view old posts by going directly the Facebook Settings page for Posts and clicking on "Limit Past Posts" in the "Your Activity" section.

Choosing an audience for a single old post (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you want to change the audience for specific posts, you'll have to go into each post individually to change it. You can change the sharing settings of any individual Facebook update by clicking on the triple dots, then selecting "Edit audience."

Choose who can view your Stories

My recommendation: Personal choice

For "Stories," which are visible for 24 hours, you can limit your audience to your Facebook Friends or create a custom list of people with whom you want to share your stories. You can only set your default story audience within the Privacy Checkup.

For individual stories, click on the cog next to "Your Story" when you create a story, and you'll find the option to change your story audience for that story.

Choose whether you will allow others to share your Stories if you mention them (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you tag someone in a Story, that person can share it to their Story, along with your full name and a link to your post.

You can disable this feature by going to Facebook Setting page for Stories.

Choose whether you will allow others to share your public Stories to their own Story (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation Personal choice

If your Story is public, you can allow others to share your Story to their own Story, along with your full name and a link to your original Story. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Stories to make your choice.

Choose whether you will allow others to share your public Reels to their own Story (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation Personal choice

If your Story is public, you can allow others to share your Story to their own Story, along with your full name and a link to your original Story. Go to the Facebook Settings page for Reels to make your choice.

Choose whether other people will see the total number of reactions to posts you share (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you don't want other people to see the number of reactions to your posts, you can turn off showing post reactions.

Go to the Facebook Settings page for Reaction preferences and toggle off "On your posts."

How to block people from seeing your content and interacting with you

Block a person from interacting with you on Facebook

Blocking a person means that you are invisible to that person on Facebook. So if a mutual Friend tags you in a post, that person won't see the post. If you comment on a mutual Friend's post, that person won't see the comment. There are a few exceptions. If you both use a Facebook app or game or if you've both joined a group, the blocked person could see you. And, the person you block won't disappear entirely from your view. If a mutual Friend posts a photo and tags the blocked person, you may still see it on your Friend's timeline.

To block someone, go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the Edit button next to "Block users." If you just want to prevent a person from seeing posts that you share with Friends, you can add them to your Restricted list (also on the Blocking page). Click on the "Edit" button next to "Restricted list" to add them.

Block just messages and video calls (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you just want to stop a person from sending you messages or attempting to connect via a video call in Messenger, you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block messages" to add their name.

Block just app invites (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you just want to stop a person from sending invitations to try an app (occurs when one of your friends is trying to get free stuff in a game), you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block app invites."

Block just event invites (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you just want to stop a person from sending event invitations, you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block event invites."

Block apps (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you want an app to stop contacting you and prevent the app from obtaining non-public information about you through Facebook, you can go the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block apps" to add the name of the app.

Block Pages (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

If you want a Page to stop interacting with your posts or be able to like or reply to your comments, you can go to the Facebook Settings page for Blocking and select the "Edit" button next to "Block Pages" to add the name of the Page. You will be unable to post to the Page's Timeline or message the Page. And, if you currently like the Page, blocking the Page will automatically unlike and unfollow the Page.

How people can find you on Facebook.

This section walks you through the ways that you can limit how people can find you through search engines (like Google), or with your phone number, email or name on through Facebook.

Choose who can send you a Friend request

My recommendation: Personal choice

You have two options for limiting who can send you a Friend request: Everyone or Friends of friends. Unless you're being inundated with requests or don't want to be found, I recommend leaving the setting on Everyone so legitimate people who want to connect can.

You can access this directly by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Choose whether people can use your phone number or email to find you

My recommendation: Personal choice

People can look you up on Facebook with your phone number or email address, even if you have them hidden on your profile. This method makes it easy for people you know to find you, especially if you have a common name on Facebook, like Jane Smith. Have the settings option set to "Everyone" or "Friends of Friends" if you want people to find you using your email address or phone number. Or, you can also choose to fully hide your email addresses or phone numbers by selecting "Only me" as the audience. The settings you choose apply to all of your phone numbers or all of your email addresses.

You can access this directly by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Choose whether your Facebook profile appears on search engines

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can find your public Facebook profile page on search engines like Google. If you don't want your Facebook profile coming up in search, you can toggle this setting off in the privacy checkup or you can access it directly by going to You can access this directly by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Choose how message requests are delivered (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

When your Facebook Friends message you, you'll see them appear in the Messenger Chats window. However, other people may try to contact you via Messenger as well: "people with your phone number," "Friends of friends," and "others on Facebook." If you don't want strangers contacting you, send messages requests to "Don't receive requests." If you want to see the request before approving them to chat with you, select "Message requests."

You can set your preferences by going to the Facebook Settings page for How people find and contact you.

Your data settings on Facebook

Facebook makes it easy to log into other websites and apps with your Facebook account. If these conveniences are too invasive for you, here's where to turn them off.

Using Facebook to log into apps and websites

My recommendation: Remove connections

Instead of creating a new username and password for an app or website, you may have used your Facebook account. If you no longer use the app or website, it's a good idea to remove the connection. However, some apps and websites may hold valuable information about your account. Note that when you remove the connection to your Facebook account, you will lose access to your third-party account.

Remove login with Facebook for specific apps and websites

My recommendation: Personal choice

In the Facebook Privacy Checkup, you'll see a list of all websites and apps that you've connected to your Facebook account. To remove connection, click the 'Remove" button next to the app or site. In the pop-up window, you'll be given the option to "delete all of the posts, photos, and videos that the site or app has posted on your Timeline" and/or "Allow Facebook to notify [app name] the login was removed." This second option may enable you to recover data in the account you created with your Facebook login.

Turn off login with Facebook for apps, websites, and games (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can turn off the ability to use Facebook to log into apps, websites, and games.

Go to the Facebook Setting page for Apps and Websites and click on the "Turn off" button next to "Apps, websites and games."

Turn off game and app notifications (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can turn off annoying notifications for game requests from friends, game status updates, and app notifications.

Go to the Facebook Setting page for Apps and Websites and click on the "Turn off" button next to "Game and app notifications."

Your ad preferences on Facebook

Meta will show you ads on Facebook – that's how they make their money. It's just a question of whether those ads will be targeted to your demographics and interests or non-targeted (and, perhaps, less relevant to you).

Choose the profile information to share with marketers

My recommendation: Personal choice

Here, you can choose whether to share your marital status, employer, job title, and level of education with advertisers. This doesn't remove the information from your Facebook profile; it just impacts the ads you see.

You can also go directly to Meta Settings page for Ad Preferences and clicking on "Manage info" and then "Profile information." There you can toggle off any data you don't want to share.

Choose which interests to share with marketers (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

In addition to basic profile information, Facebook uses other information you've shared with it to serve you ads. You can remove interest categories, by going to Meta Settings page for Ad Preferences and clicking on "Manage info" and then "Profile information." In the "Categories associated with you" section, click on "View and manage." If you have other demographic or behavioral categories in your Ad Preferences, you can click on the "Remove" button next to any categories you don't want used to target ads to you.

See fewer ads about specific topics (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

While you can't choose to see fewer ads overall, you can choose to see fewer ads in specific categories. Go to the Meta Settings page for Ad topics. There you can choose to "See less" of any topic listed.

Turn off personalized ads based on information advertisers share about you (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

You can choose to prevent Facebook from using data from its partners to show personalized ads. Go Meta Settings page for Ad topics and in the "information other advertisers share about you" section you can select "Activity information from ad partners" to make your selection.

Choose which advertisers can use their own audience list to target you with ads (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

Some companies have lists of people that they want to reach with their ads. Facebook allows companies to target ads based on these lists, or even exclude you from seeing ads (for example, the DNC may want to exclude their ads from people on the RNC list). You can choose not to be shown ads using a list, as well as not be excluded from seeing ads. Go to the Meta Settings page for Audience-based advertising. There, you will see a list of all of the companies that have you on their audience list. Click on a company, and you can find out why you were included in the advertiser's audience. Click on the arrow next to the reason, and you can choose whether the company's list can be used to either include or exclude you from seeing ads.

Choose whether you are shown ads off Facebook based on your interests (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

Facebook serves a lot of advertising on websites and through apps off of Facebook. You can turn off personalized ads for those sites and apps, by going to the Meta Settings page for Ad preferences and selecting the "Manage info" tab. Click on "Ads shown outside of Meta." There, you can choose "Allowed" or "Not Allowed."

Hide ads from specific brands (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

My recommendation: Personal choice

If you're tired of being inundated with a specific company's ads, you can choose to hide them. Go to the Meta Settings page for Ad preferences and select the "Customize ads" tab. The click on "See all" next to "Advertisers you saw ads from." There you will find a list of the advertisers you have seen most recently, and you can click on the "Hide Ads" button next to any offenders.

Choose whether your social interactions with a company show up in ads

My recommendation: Only Me

Have you ever liked or followed a company, made a comment, shared a company's Page, checked into an event held by a company, made a recommendation, or joined a Facebook event held by a company? Facebook can broadcast your action as an advertisement to all your friends.

If you don't like this type of inadvertent endorsement, you can limit who can see these social interactions alongside ads to "Only me."

You can also go directly to the Meta Settings page for Ad preferences and click on "Social interactions." In the popup, you can select "Only me" or "Friends."

How to keep your account secure

In this section, you can change your password, turn on two-factor authentication, and get alerts when there is an unrecognized login to your account. If you already have two-factor authentication turned on and alerts are set for unrecognized logins, you'll receive the message that "You're all set. No security actions are recommended at this time."

Use a strong password

Strong recommendation

Do you have a strong password for your Facebook account – one that is unique to Facebook and at least 16 characters, including upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters? If the answer is no, you should strongly consider changing your password.

To ensure you remember your new strong password and to make it easier to use strong passwords going forward, I highly recommend using a password manager. We are fans (and users) of Dashlane and 1Password.

To change your password, you can go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security.

Turn on two-factor authentication

Strong recommendation

A strong password is essential, but that's not enough if it's compromised in a data breach or you are tricked into giving it away in a Facebook credentials phishing attack. That's where two-factor authentication comes in. When two-factor authentication is turned on, anyone trying to log into your account from a new device or browser would need to provide a one-time-use code delivered via an app, text message, or email. I highly recommend turning on two-factor authentication.

You can also go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Two-Factor Authentication" to set it up.

You should also check the list of devices and browsers that don't require a code when you log in to ensure there aren't any of your old devices on the list. To check this, go to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Two-Factor Authentication." Once you've logged in, you'll see a box, with a section entitles "Authorized Logins." Click the "Recognized devices" button to view the list of devices that don't require a login code.

Receive alerts when there is an unrecognized login to your Facebook account

Strong recommendation

You can choose to receive Login alerts that will be sent every time you log into your account from a device or browser that you don't usually use. You can choose to have alerts sent via Facebook, email, or both. Note that a new web browser looks like a new computer to Facebook.

You can go directly to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Login alerts" to turn them on and select your delivery method.

Check where you're logged in (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Strong recommendation

In addition to receiving alerts when there is an unrecognized login, you can check to see which devices have logged into your Facebook account. You can see where you're logged into Facebook – the device and physical location – by going to the Facebook Settings page for Password and security and select "Where you're logged in." If you see a suspicious login, you can click on it and then select "Log Out." Worst case scenario is that you'll have to log in again on a device you own, so err on the side of logging out.

Final thoughts

That covers the extensive privacy setting options on Facebook. If you want to dig even further into how Facebook is using your personal data and activities, read Facebook's latest privacy policy.

Still confused by a specific issue or question with your account? Ask below in the comments, and we'll do our best to help you out.

[Image credit: screenshots of the Facebook site via Techlicious, computer mockup via Canva]

For the past 20+ years, Techlicious founder Suzanne Kantra has been exploring and writing about the world’s most exciting and important science and technology issues. Prior to Techlicious, Suzanne was the Technology Editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the Senior Technology Editor for Popular Science. Suzanne has been featured on CNN, CBS, NBC and dozens of other TV and radio networks.

Topics

Facebook, Computers and Software, Computer Safety & Support, Tips & How-Tos, Privacy, Tech 101, Social Networking

Discussion

From Adam on September 20, 2016 :: 4:19 pm

Hi I have a tech support business page, would it be ok for me to post a link on my page to this page as a lot of people ask me about facebook security and this is about the the best guide iv’e seen?

From Josh Kirschner on September 21, 2016 :: 10:27 am

You’re always welcome to add a link to our articles on your pages if you find them helpful.

Best,
Josh

From J on September 20, 2016 :: 9:27 pm

I purchased two things today from outside sites, under a different name and email address than my FB account, and I received notifications from the companies in my Messages. Not Messenger, I don’t use that. Apparently, there is a new plug in Facebook has provided to retail sites that automatically links the two. How do I turn off THIS privacy invasion?

From Ann on September 26, 2016 :: 1:45 pm

I’ve previously set all my posts to public because I have nothing to hide, and I run a home business where it helps for potential customers to get to “know” me before we go further in a transaction. But, I have a few people who need to be on a restricted list. If I switch my posts’ privacy settings to the custom “friends” and “friends of friends”, are the people on my restricted list unable to see those posts. Which is my intention. If I set posts to custom, then clients and potential clients can still see enough about me to get to know me. But, I really want that restricted list to only see my public posts now. All info about restricted lists, only mention that they can’t see my posts marked friends. But, they don’t mention if they can see my posts marked friends of friends. Any help is appreciated!

From Josh Kirschner on September 26, 2016 :: 3:30 pm

Yes, you can restrict people from friends of friends in the custom settings, but I would strongly encourage you to rethink that approach. Especially once you start spreading out to friends of friends, it makes it increasingly likely that someone on your restricted list will see or find out about your post. Facebook is a social platform and things you post can get spread around, so act accordingly.

From Ann on September 26, 2016 :: 3:47 pm

So, just to clarify. I can put these two people on my restricted list, and if I change all pertinent posts to friends of friends, they still cannot see it themselves.

Luckily, my posts are all G rated and positive. But, these two are trolling to knock negative vibes into my positive posts. But ... they’re family.

UGH.

From Josh Kirschner on September 26, 2016 :: 5:31 pm

According to Facebook, they would not see your posts unless they are tagged in it or you post as Public if they are on your restricted list.

From Ann on September 26, 2016 :: 7:54 pm

Since I was only seeing the restricted list pertain to “friends” and not “friends of friends”, I just wanted to make sure.

From Elmarie Tredoux on October 01, 2016 :: 9:01 am

I want to make business pages public, but keep my personal profile private (friends only). how do I do that?

From Josh Kirschner on October 05, 2016 :: 10:16 am

Your business page privacy settings have nothing to do with your personal settings. Business pages are public by default. Changes you make to your business page will only affect that page ad not impact the privacy settings for your personal page.

From Michele on October 08, 2016 :: 3:43 pm

I’ve had a person blocked for over 6 months. Today on my fiance’s page it showed I was friend’s with the blocked person (we have 4 mutual friends) and suggested that person as a friend to my fiancé. If the person has been blocked for 6 months, why is my fiancé receiving a post on his page showing I’m friend’s with the blocked person and suggests they be friend’s? How can I prevent this from happening again with other people I have blocked?

From Margaret Woodward on October 09, 2016 :: 6:33 am

How do I unfriend someone on my Facebook account?

From Josh Kirschner on October 11, 2016 :: 1:01 pm

Just go to that person’s profile page and you should see a dropdown box near the top that says “Friends”. Click that and you can “Unfriend”. Or go to your profile pages and find that person under your Friends section. You can also Unfriend from there.

From Pete Ormsbee on October 10, 2016 :: 3:43 pm

Hi, I recently set up a business page and I would like the privacy settings to be different than the settings I have for my personal page. With my personal page, I set it so I don’t show up in search engines. Obviously, I want my business page to show up. Is there a way to do this? Thanks!

From Josh Kirschner on October 11, 2016 :: 12:57 pm

Facebook business page privacy settings are completely different than your personal settings. All business pages will be visible by default unless set to “unpublished”.

From Mike on October 20, 2016 :: 4:56 pm

Hello,

I have made posts in a ‘secret’ group and assumed that only people within that group would be able to view them. It seems, however, that the same post appears on my timeline and therefore all my friends(who don’t belong to the original group) can see the posts too. Is there a way o rectifying this so that my posts in the secret group are NOT visible to my other friends?

Thank you.

From Khushbu Shah on November 03, 2016 :: 12:34 am

Hi
Want to check one person’s daily updates and all, but we are not friends, so i can’t see his all post, because of his privacy settings.
But because of some reason, i want to see his daily updates.
So what can i do for this ?

From Prince of Parties on November 07, 2016 :: 4:47 am

From time to time, I notice that one or other of my Friends will have a Friends-only post that has either Comments or Likes from people that are either:
- not on their Friendlist; or
- do not show our Mutual Friend as a Mutual Friend on their Timeline when I look at it.

I have noticed this with both Friends that allow me to see their Friendlist and Friends that do not.

I realise that between the Comment or Like being made, and my viewing of the Post that the Friend-of-a-Friend may have Unfriended my Friend, or been Unfriended by my Friend. However, I have witnessed it many times, and sometimes the Post may only be a few minutes (or seconds) old.

What is going on?

From Aaron William Quinn on November 15, 2016 :: 8:44 pm

Even though I have chosen ‘Public’ in the Privacy Settings, almost all of my posts are still hidden. I noticed that the setting said it will apply to all of my future posts but I would like my whole timeline to be visible. I don’t post very much and I want what I post to be seen publicly. How can I change that?

Thanks.

From Brandon Swarthout on November 17, 2016 :: 10:40 am

When I try to post a url in a page I manage as that page the browser times out. This happens in ie, chrome, and Firefox. When I try to post as myself it works fine. I created a new facebook profile and added that profile as an admin and it works fine. This leads me to believe that some setting in my profile is preventing this. I know all the other admins of this page do not have the same problem. This was working a week ago.

Thanks,
Brandon

From Faith on November 29, 2016 :: 2:33 am

Recently a friend of mine posted something and I ‘Like’ the page. After a few hours when I log in again, my Like button doesn’t show up. Am I restricted or not? Is there anyway a friend can undo the like button? I am positive that I hit the Like button.

From Scott on November 30, 2016 :: 8:48 pm

I’m trying to figure out how to prevent every event I RSVP for from automatically appearing in the news feeds of all of my friends. I know I can click on my activity log and change the privacy setting for that particular event after the fact, but I need to remember to do this each time. Is there a way to change the default setting? From what I gather searching around on Google, there used to be a way to do this, but there doesn’t appear to be any more. Is that accurate?

Also, are my friends notified in their news feeds every time I join a page or group? If so, is there a way to stop this?

I know that if the events/groups/pages are public, my name will appear in the list of members or attendees, which is fine. But that doesn’t mean that I necessarily want to publicize my participation.

From Tracy on December 10, 2016 :: 5:14 pm

So when I post, tag someone, or respond to a comment people I have blocked can still see this on mutual friends FB page…how do I stop this?

From Tim on December 11, 2016 :: 7:04 pm

I just set up a new business page under my personal profile and Status, Photo/Video, and OfferEvent+ options are missing on the bar above the “Write something…” area. In addition, I am also seeing 6 boxes with options to “Advertise Your Business,” “Get Phone Calls,” “Get Messages,” “Create an Event,” “Create an Offer,” and “Write a Note” below the “Write Something” area.

On my other business page, the Status, Photo/Video, and OfferEvent+ are visible and they are also visible on my personal page. These two do not have the 6 boxes below (“Advertise Your Business..” etc.). Please help! Thank you!

From Me on December 15, 2016 :: 9:24 pm

Hi,
I’m having this issue, where every time I change my profile pic, and I know profile pics are Public, but this person I know but am not friends with on FB, sees it and gets a alert about it. I think she’s using google alerts, but am not sure How can i prevent this? She’s basically stalking me!

From Kerri S on January 03, 2017 :: 12:28 pm

Ive tried every section. I DID find how to add things like life events, education, etc. I want the section like you have above, but not steps listed how to get there. To check my email, who can see it, etc. The ‘Your Profile’ and who can see it, etc. I tried Googling and FB for the answer too, Im sure its easy, I just cant find it.

From Laurie on January 05, 2017 :: 1:15 pm

If you add a new friend and restrict thier view. How can you stop them from seeing the old posts before they were friends

From Josh Kirschner on January 18, 2017 :: 3:30 pm

If the old posts were set to “Friends”, then the only way to restrict a new friend from seeing them is to manually change the privacy of every old post to restrict them. Doesn’t sound very practical…

From Anna on January 18, 2017 :: 2:03 am

Just wondering how I can find or set up “the new friends I made in a given year” for myself without having to look through my activity log for an hour (which I already did).

From Josh Kirschner on January 18, 2017 :: 3:37 pm

The activity log is the place to do it. However, to make it much easier, you can filter the activity log to show only “friends”. Once in the activity log area, just click Friends in the left column to filter.

From Anna on January 18, 2017 :: 6:34 pm

Thanks! I used the filter on the activity log and it’s much easier than before.

From Teresa on January 31, 2017 :: 10:58 pm

Someone on facebook is writing a book and is using my information from facebook in their book. Can they be allowed to do this without my concent or knowledge? What rights do I have and how can I stop them from doing this?

From Josh Kirschner on February 10, 2017 :: 11:12 am

Depending on where you live, your rights may be protected by privacy laws. Also, depending on what content they’re using, you may have copyright protection of your posts, photos or other creations.

This, however, is a question best addressed to an attorney who can help you assess your rights in this particular situation.

From Liz on February 09, 2017 :: 11:08 am

Hi. If i set a post to close friends only, but tag a friend in the post, im assuming their friends can then see the post? How do i stop this please?

From Josh Kirschner on February 10, 2017 :: 11:16 am

According to Facebook: When you tag someone, that content (ex: photo, post) may be shared with the person tagged and their friends. This means that if you haven’t already included their friends in the audience, their friends may now be able to see it. For example, if you tag Jane in a photo shared with your friends, the audience expands to Friends (+) to include your friends and Jane’s.

If you don’t want your photo, post or other content to be visible to the friends of the person tagged, you can turn this setting off for each post when you post it. To do this, click the audience selector next to the story, select Custom, and uncheck the Friends of those tagged box.

For more details see: https://www.facebook.com/help/240051956039320?helpref=faq_content

From Nishxal Kto on March 02, 2017 :: 4:11 am

Nice nishchal

From Howard Haradon on March 05, 2017 :: 7:12 pm

Hi, I have no friends on facebook. I set my friend requests to come only from friends of friends (that means nobody). Why do I continure to receive friend requests from various unknown people?
Thanks for any ideas.
HH

From Josh Kirschner on March 07, 2017 :: 11:55 am

I looked up your profile on Facebook (I assume the url is the “not.howard” one) and I cannot send you a friend request. So it seethe privacy setting seems to be working as intended. Are you sure you’re getting friend requests and not Facebook messages or something else? Are you sure they are “requests” (something someone actually sent you) and not “suggestions” (people Facebook thinks you may know, for one reason or another).

From Sharon on March 10, 2017 :: 1:44 am

Hi there,

Wondering if there’s a quick and easy way (without deleting individual posts) that you can hide your entire wall, even from your friends, so that you only have the message & photo functionality of facebook?

From Josh Kirschner on March 13, 2017 :: 5:29 pm

You can hide “Sections” from your wall, so that these things won’t appear in your timeline. However, individual stories posted to these section may still be visible to friends. The only way to make individual posts not visible is to change each post’s privacy settings.

From Elodie Turpin on March 10, 2017 :: 4:50 pm

Hi, thanks for the info! I am an admin of several business pages and would like to block people who follow my business page from friending me personally. Is there a setting for this?
Thanks!

From Josh Kirschner on March 13, 2017 :: 5:37 pm

Via Facebook: To manage who can follow you and who can see your posts:
- Click at the top-right corner and select Settings.
- Click Public Posts on the left.
- Select Friends or Public next to Who Can Follow Me.

Your only choices, though, are “public” and “friends” (who follow you automatically, anyway). You can’t target any more specifically.

From Teresa on March 13, 2017 :: 4:32 pm

Hi,
I joined a group a while back thinking it was what it claimed to be but it was actually quite the opposite. Everything about this group is misleading. I was ridiculed, called names, made fun of, humiliated, and even my medical issues and disability was attached. I reported them to Facebook but they did nothing. Now u think I would of left the group and after I regained my composure back, I went to leave the group and thats when I noticed that they to where doing this to other people. So I stayed and have made it my mission to try and either warn or comfort new victims who get lured in. Since then I have collected posts from administraters admitting their intentions are to purposely mislead and humiliate the people who join. They also join other groups and have members of their group join those groups to break them down and make chaos. This group is down right cruel. How Facebook could allow them to continue to do this just floors me. I am all for free speach and a persons rights, trust me I believe in them with everything that I am, but what they are doing is violating and the innocent arent being protected. My question is: How do I put a stop to this group? How do I get Facebook to listen? If I was to of done what they’ve done to anyone on Facebook, I would of been booted off. Harrasment and discrimination and bullying are suppose to be not allowed yet thats exactly what this group is doing and its being done intentionally. Making fun of a persons race and religion is not OK! Looking for other groups just in hopes to disrupt them for personal entertainment is not Ok. This group’s only purpose is to pray on the lives of others for their own gratification and amusement and its wrong and hurtfull. They need to be accountable for their actions! Thanks for your help.

From Josh Kirschner on March 13, 2017 :: 5:48 pm

If you feel a group is violating Facebook’s Community Standards (https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards), you should report specific examples to Facebook. Make sure you clearly state why you believe the group is in violation, and what standards they are specifically violating. The clearer you can be, and the more serious the violation, the more likely Facebook will act on your complaint.

In the spirit of constructive criticism, your post above was difficult for me to understand. When you complain to Facebook, be concise in your language, focus on the issue, and have someone edit your spelling and grammar.

From David on March 13, 2017 :: 6:50 pm

A couple of postings I did from my phone have been assigned as “Good Friends only” and when I put the mouse over the hyperlink to try & edit the privacy setting, a pop-up box appears saying “Only your Good Friends can see this post” BUT I can’t navigate to the link or edit the settings, Anyone able to help with this one??

From Kerensa Baker on March 16, 2017 :: 7:03 pm

OK, so say I post a comment on post by the BBC, aside from others who have also commented on it, can my friends see my comment? I was under the impression that they can only see it if they too “like” the page?

From Josh Kirschner on March 17, 2017 :: 11:07 am

For a public page, like BBC, anyone can see the posts and comments, whether they like the page or not.

From Larry Moore on April 02, 2017 :: 11:05 pm

I have all my pictures marked as public so that everyone can see them but the one picture that I have in my timeline album can only be seen by my friends. Initially that picture was being shown and when ever I checked it with “View as” it was there for the public to see. However, for some reason that changed and nothing that I’ve tried has fixed the problem. Anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

From BETTY JEAN FORD on April 05, 2017 :: 9:57 am

THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS VALUABLE INFORMATION

From facebook10155011615402012 on April 20, 2017 :: 12:53 pm

I would like to be notified via email by certain people when they post, tag me, or add to my post. This feature worked at one time but is presently not working. My email address is still the same and I have checked ‘get notifications’ on the individuals I want notifications from.
The ‘activity that includes me’ button is greyed out in my facebook settings! How do I get back to receiving email notifications? I have been trying to figure out this problem for weeks without success. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

Read More Comments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The Complete Guide to Facebook Privacy Settings

Table of Contents

Who can see your profile information

Managing who can see your basic profile information

Managing who can see your connections

Control your audience for your Posts and Stories

Managing how you are tagged in posts

Managing who can comment on your public information

Managing old posts

Managing stories and reels

How to block people from seeing your content and interacting with you

How people can find you on Facebook

Your data settings on Facebook

Your ad preferences on Facebook

How to keep your account secure

Who can see your profile information

See how other people view your Facebook profile page

The phone numbers associated with your Facebook account

The email addresses associated with your Facebook account

Your birthday

Your hometown and current city

Your relationship status

Your work history and where you went to school

Your friends list on your profile page

The people and Pages you follow

Choose your audience for Posts and Stories

Choose your default audience

When you are tagged in a post created by someone else, choose who can see the post (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose who can post on your profile (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose who can see what others post on your profile page (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose to hide comments with specific words on your profile page (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose to review posts you're tagged in before they appear on your profile (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose to review tags people add to your posts before they appear on Facebook (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose who can comment on your public posts (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose who can comment on your public profile pictures and other public profile information (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Find and remove old posts from your Timeline that you were tagged in (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose who can view old posts

Choosing an audience for a single old post (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose who can view your Stories

Choose whether you will allow others to share your Stories if you mention them (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose whether you will allow others to share your public Stories to their own Story (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose whether you will allow others to share your public Reels to their own Story (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose whether other people will see the total number of reactions to posts you share (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

How to block people from seeing your content and interacting with you

Block a person from interacting with you on Facebook

Block just messages and video calls (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Block just app invites (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Block just event invites (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Block apps (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Block Pages (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

How people can find you on Facebook.

Choose who can send you a Friend request

Choose whether people can use your phone number or email to find you

Choose whether your Facebook profile appears on search engines

Choose how message requests are delivered (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Your data settings on Facebook

Using Facebook to log into apps and websites

Remove login with Facebook for specific apps and websites

Turn off login with Facebook for apps, websites, and games (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Turn off game and app notifications (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Your ad preferences on Facebook

Choose the profile information to share with marketers

Choose which interests to share with marketers (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

See fewer ads about specific topics (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Turn off personalized ads based on information advertisers share about you (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose which advertisers can use their own audience list to target you with ads (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose whether you are shown ads off Facebook based on your interests (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Hide ads from specific brands (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Choose whether your social interactions with a company show up in ads

How to keep your account secure

Use a strong password

Turn on two-factor authentication

Receive alerts when there is an unrecognized login to your Facebook account

Check where you're logged in (Not part of Privacy Checkup)

Final thoughts

Discussion

Our Latest Reviews

Lenovo Tab P12 Review: Big Features, Budget-Friendly Price Lenovo Tab P12 Review: Big Features, Budget-Friendly Price

Samsung S800D Soundbar Review: Big Sound, Ultra Slim Profile Samsung S800D Ultra Slim Soundbar (model HW-S800D)

Samsung Music Frame Review: An Innovative Blend of Sound and Style Samsung Music Frame

Lenovo Tab P12 Review: Big Features, Budget-Friendly Price
Lenovo Tab P12 Review: Big Features, Budget-Friendly Price

Samsung S800D Soundbar Review: Big Sound, Ultra Slim Profile
Samsung S800D Ultra Slim Soundbar (model HW-S800D)

Samsung Music Frame Review: An Innovative Blend of Sound and Style
Samsung Music Frame

Samsung S95D Review: The Best OLED Big Screen Yet?
Samsung OLED S95D (Model Q77S95DA)

Laifen Wave Review: A Serious Challenger to Oral-B and Sonicare
Laifen Wave