Where to find Facebook's privacy settings and what they control
Facebook's privacy controls live in one place: the Settings and Privacy menu in the top right of your screen. Open Facebook, click the downward arrow in the top right corner, then select "Settings and privacy" followed by "Settings". From there, you can control who sees your posts, who can contact you, who can find your profile, and what information Facebook shares with advertisers. These settings do not remove your information from data brokers — they only control what Facebook itself shows to other people and what Facebook uses your data for.
The most important distinction: changing privacy settings on Facebook stops your friends and strangers from seeing your posts and profile details. It does not stop Facebook from collecting information about you, selling access to advertisers, or sharing data with third parties. If you arrived here from the data broker removal guide, you will still need to contact data brokers separately to remove your information from their sites.
Key Takeaways
- Facebook's privacy settings are in Settings and Privacy > Settings, accessed from the arrow menu in the top right corner.
- The "Who can see your posts?" setting controls whether your content is visible to friends only, friends of friends, or the public.
- The "Who can contact you?" setting lets you block messages from people outside your friends list.
- Changing privacy settings on Facebook does not remove your information from data brokers or stop Facebook from collecting your data for advertising.
- You can limit what information appears on your profile by adjusting settings for phone number, email, birthday, and past addresses.
How to control who sees your posts and profile
Once you are in Settings, click "Privacy" in the left menu. The first option is "Who can see your posts?" — click the button next to it and choose from three options: Friends, Friends of Friends, or Public. Friends is the most restrictive; Public means anyone on Facebook or the internet can see what you post. Most people choose Friends. This setting applies to posts you make going forward, not posts you have already shared.
Below that is "Who can see your friends list?" — change this to Friends Only if you do not want strangers to see who you are connected to. Then find "Who can look you up using the email address you provided?" and "Who can look you up using the phone number you provided?" — set both to Friends Only. These settings stop people from finding your profile by searching your phone number or email address.
Scroll down to "Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?" and toggle this off. This prevents Google and other search engines from indexing your Facebook profile, which means your profile will not show up in search results outside Facebook.
How to limit messages from people you do not know
In the same Privacy menu, find "Who can send you friend requests?" and set it to Friends of Friends. This reduces the number of random requests from strangers. Then look for "Who can contact you?" — this controls message requests from people who are not your friends. Set this to Friends to allow only people you have already added to message you directly.
If you set it to Friends, messages from non-friends will go to a separate "Message Requests" folder instead of your main inbox. You can still see them, but they will not notify you. This is useful if you want to avoid harassment or spam without completely blocking the ability for someone to reach you in an emergency.
How to hide personal information from your profile
Go to your profile by clicking your name or profile picture, then click the pencil icon next to your cover photo and select "Edit profile". Scroll through each section — About, Work and Education, Places You Have Lived, Contact Information — and click the audience button (it looks like a person or people icon) next to each item. Change it from Public to Friends Only or Friends of Friends.
Pay special attention to your birthday, phone number, email address, and any past addresses you have listed. These are the pieces of information data brokers search for and use to build profiles on you. Setting them to Friends Only means only people you have added can see them. You can also delete information entirely by clicking the X next to it — you do not have to keep any of this information on your profile.
How to control what Facebook shares with advertisers
In Settings, click "Ads" in the left menu. You will see "Ad preferences" — click it. This page shows the categories Facebook has assigned to you based on your activity: your age, gender, location, interests, and behaviors. You cannot turn off Facebook's data collection, but you can remove yourself from specific interest categories that you do not want advertisers to target you with.
Click any category to remove it. For example, if Facebook has labeled you as interested in "Weight Loss" or "Parenting," you can delete those tags. This does not stop Facebook from collecting the data — it only stops advertisers from using those specific categories to target ads to you. To see what information Facebook is actually collecting about you, go to Settings > Your information > read your information, which shows the raw data Facebook has stored.
How to review and remove old posts in bulk
Facebook does not have a built-in tool to delete all posts at once, but you can limit what is visible. Go to your profile, click the three dots next to "Edit profile," and select "Activity log". From here you can review every post, photo, and comment you have ever made. Click the audience button (person icon) next to any post to change who can see it, or click the X to delete it.
For faster removal of older content, you can filter by date using the menu on the left. Start with your oldest posts and work forward, changing visibility to Friends Only or deleting entirely. This is time-consuming if you have years of posts, but it prevents strangers and data brokers from scraping old information about you from your public profile.
What privacy settings do not do
Changing Facebook privacy settings does not remove your information from data brokers, search engines outside Facebook, or Facebook's own advertising network. If your phone number or email was already public on Facebook before you changed the setting, data brokers may have already collected it. You will need to contact those brokers separately to request removal — Facebook privacy settings only control what is visible going forward.
Privacy settings also do not stop Facebook from collecting information about your behavior, location, device, and browsing habits. Facebook uses this data to build an advertising profile on you regardless of your privacy settings. If you want to limit data collection itself, you can turn off location tracking in your phone's settings, use a VPN, or limit which apps can access your Facebook data — but these are separate from Facebook's privacy controls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will changing my privacy settings remove my information from Google search results?
Changing privacy settings on Facebook will prevent new content from appearing in Google, but old posts that were already public may still be indexed. You can ask Google to remove specific pages by using Google Search Console, or you can contact Google directly to request removal of outdated information. Facebook privacy settings alone will not remove already-indexed content.
Can I make my profile completely invisible to non-friends?
You can make your profile very restricted, but not completely invisible. Even with all privacy settings set to Friends Only, people who are not your friends can still see your profile picture, name, and username. They just cannot see your posts, photos, or personal information. If you want to be completely invisible, you would need to deactivate or delete your account.
Does turning off ad targeting stop Facebook from collecting my data?
No. Removing yourself from interest categories only stops advertisers from targeting you with ads based on those categories. Facebook continues to collect all the same information about you — your location, device, browsing behavior, and activity. The data collection itself cannot be turned off through privacy settings.
If I delete a post, can data brokers still access it?
If a data broker collected your information before you deleted the post, they may still have a copy. Deleting something from Facebook does not automatically remove it from data broker databases. You will need to contact the data broker directly and request removal. Some brokers will remove information if you provide proof it is inaccurate or if you request removal under privacy laws like CCPA.
What should I do if someone is using my information from Facebook?
Report the person or content to Facebook using the three-dot menu on their profile or post. If someone is impersonating you, go to Settings > Help > Report a Problem and describe the situation. For data brokers using your information, document what you find and contact the broker's removal process. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission if you believe your information is being used fraudulently.