Controlling How You Share
Facebook is about sharing. Our privacy controls give you the power to decide what and how much you share. Learn how to manage who can see your information on and off Facebook. See what's new
The settings you choose control which people and apps can see your information. You can share your information with friends, friends of friends or everyone, and we offer presets to help you do that. Or, if you prefer, you can customize your settings.
  • Sharing on Facebook
    This section controls who can see all the content you post on a day-to-day basis (such as status updates, photos and videos). It also includes some things you share about yourself (birthday and contact information) and content others share about you (comments on your posts and photos and videos you've been tagged in). Set these now with one click, and your settings will apply to all the day-to-day content you post in the future. "Customize settings" displays a full list so you can control the privacy level for each setting.
  • Connecting on Facebook
    Your name, profile picture, gender, networks and username are available to everyone because this info is essential to helping you connect with your friends and family.
    • Name and profile picture help friends recognize you.
    • Gender helps us describe you (for example, "Add her as a friend").
    • Networks are open to everyone so network members can see who they will be sharing information with before they choose "Friends and Networks" for any privacy settings.
    Other information in this section, including hometown, activities and experiences, is open to everyone by default to help you connect with friends and get the most out of your Facebook experience.
  • Apps and Websites
    This section controls what information is shared with websites and apps, including search engines (apps and websites you and your friends use already have access to your name, profile picture, gender, networks, friend list, user ID, username, and any other information you share with everyone). You can view your apps, remove any you don't want to use, or turn off platform completely. Turning off platform means you won't be able to use any platform apps or websites and we won't share your information with them.
  • Block Lists
    This section lets you block people from interacting with you or seeing your information on Facebook. You can also specify friends you want to ignore app invites from, and see a list of the specific apps that you've blocked from accessing your information and contacting you.

Additional Controls

  • Control each time you post
    You can control who sees each and every post. Before you post a status update, link or anything else, click the lock icon to choose who can see it. What you select will override your "Posts by me" setting, which acts as the default.
  • Control with apps
    Apps can only see information you've already made visible to everyone. To access more, apps have to ask for permission for each piece of information, and it can only be information that's needed for them to work.
  • Control for what you're tagged in
    You control who can see the photos and videos you're tagged in that appear on your profile. Keep in mind, the owner of a photo can still share that photo with people you're not friends with. If you don't want your tag to appear, remove it from the photo or video itself. This will also prevent it from appearing on your profile.

Additional Information

  • Advertising
    We never share your personal information with our advertisers. Facebook's ad targeting is done entirely anonymously. If advertisers select demographic targeting for their ads, Facebook automatically matches those ads to the appropriate audience. Advertisers only receive anonymous data reports.
    To make ads more relevant for you and your friends, some ads include social engagement features, such as the Like button, and provide social context, such as "Your Friend likes Fun Bun Bakery."
    When you click Like on a company's Facebook Page, ad or products:
    • You create a connection to that company and you'll receive updates from it in your News Feed.
    • The story of your connection will appear on your Wall.
    • Your friends may also see the story of your liking the company in their News Feeds. You can always review and manage your likes, activities and connections by editing your profile. To learn more about the Like button, visit our Help Center FAQs.
    If you like a company and that company runs an ad on Facebook, we may pair your name and profile picture with the ad when your friends see that ad, in a News Feed-style story. This social context makes the ad more relevant to you and your friends. Learn More
    For more information about ads with social context and social engagement features, visit our Help Center.
  • Information available to everyone
    Information you've shared with everyone - as well as your name, profile picture, gender, networks, and username - could be seen by anyone on the internet. Please be aware that it will be visible to anyone viewing your profile, and apps and websites you and your friends use will be able to access it.
  • Social plugins
    Buttons and boxes containing Facebook content may appear on other websites to create more social experiences for you. The sites you're visiting receive none of your information. The content in these social plugins comes directly from Facebook. If you click "Like" or make a comment using a social plugin, your activity will be published on Facebook and shown to your Facebook friends who see a plugin on the same site. The things you like may also appear on your profile (you can control this in Basic Directory Information).
  • Instant personalization
    Some select partner sites may access your information to personalize your experience as soon as you arrive, but only information that's already visible to everyone. You can turn off instant personalization for specific sites or you can turn it off completely from the Apps and Websites page. This will prevent these partners from receiving your information through instant personalization, including what's visible to everyone.
  • Search
    "Public search" on the Apps and Websites page controls whether people who enter your name in a search engine will see a preview of your Facebook profile. It also controls whether things you've specifically chosen to share with everyone show up in searches on and off Facebook.
  • Protecting minors
    We are committed to protecting minors who use Facebook. Until their eighteenth birthday, minors don't have public search listings created for them, and the visibility of their information is limited to friends of friends and networks, even if they've chosen to make it available to everyone. This does not apply to name, profile picture, gender, networks and username, which are visible to everyone so real world friends can recognize them.