You can hide your likes from other people, but Facebook still sees them
Facebook lets you change who can see the posts you like. You can make your likes visible to everyone, visible only to friends, visible only to yourself, or hide them entirely from your profile. What you cannot do is prevent Facebook itself from recording and using that data — the company tracks every like you make, whether or not anyone else can see it.
The distinction matters. Hiding your likes from your friends and family is a privacy choice about who sees your activity. It does not change what Facebook collects about you, what it uses that data for, or how it might be shared with advertisers and other companies. Think of it as closing your curtains: your neighbors cannot see inside, but you are still living in the house.
Key Takeaways
- You can hide your likes from your profile so other people cannot see a list of what you have liked, but Facebook still records every like you make.
- The setting to hide likes is in your Facebook privacy settings under "Who can see your posts?" and applies to all your past and future likes at once.
- Hiding your likes from your profile does not prevent Facebook from using that data to build a profile of your interests for advertising purposes.
- Even if you hide your likes, the person who posted something can still see that you liked it — only the public visibility changes.
- If you want to unlike something without the original poster knowing, you must do that before hiding your likes, because hiding the setting does not retroactively remove past likes.
How to hide your likes from your profile
Open Facebook on a computer or phone and go to your profile. Click the three horizontal lines (the menu icon) in the top right corner, then select "Settings and privacy" and then "Settings." On the left side, click "Privacy." Look for the section that says "Who can see your posts?" and click on it.
You will see options for who can see your posts going forward. Below that, you should see a line that says "Limit the audience for posts you have shared in the past?" Click that option. A box will appear asking you to confirm — click "Limit Past Posts." This changes the visibility of your old posts, but it does not hide your likes.
To hide your likes specifically, stay in the Privacy settings and look for "Who can see what you like?" (the exact wording varies slightly by device and region). Click on that setting and choose "Only me." This hides your likes from appearing on your profile or in your friends' activity feeds. The change takes effect when ready for new likes and applies to old ones as well.
What hiding your likes actually does and does not do
When you set your likes to "Only me," other people cannot visit your profile and see a list of posts you have liked. Your likes also stop appearing in your friends' news feeds — so if you like a photo, your friend will not see "Priya liked this" under the photo. This is useful if you want to keep your interests, political views, or browsing habits private from people who know you.
What it does not do: the person who posted the content can still see that you liked it. If you like someone's photo, they will still get a notification that you liked it, and they can still see your name if they click to view who liked the post. Hiding your likes from your profile is about hiding from the broader audience, not from the original poster.
Facebook itself still sees every like you make. The company uses this data to build a detailed profile of your interests, which it sells to advertisers. Hiding your likes from other people does not change that. If you want to prevent Facebook from tracking your interests through likes, you would need to stop liking things altogether — there is no setting that prevents Facebook from seeing your likes while still allowing you to use the like button.
The difference between hiding likes and unliking posts
Hiding your likes and unliking a post are two separate actions. If you have already liked something and you want to remove that like so the original poster cannot see it, you must click the like button again to unlike it. Hiding your likes setting does not retroactively remove past likes — it only changes who can see them on your profile.
If you have liked something you now regret, you have two options. You can unlike it, which removes your like entirely and the original poster will no longer see your name in the list of people who liked it. Or you can leave the like in place but hide your likes from your profile, which means other people cannot see it on your profile, but the original poster can still see it if they look. Choose based on what matters more to you: whether the original poster knows you liked it, or whether your broader network can see your activity.
Why Facebook collects likes even when you hide them
Facebook's business model depends on knowing what you are interested in. Every like is data — it tells the company whether you care about politics, fitness, parenting, shopping, entertainment, or thousands of other categories. Advertisers pay Facebook to show ads to people whose likes match their target audience. A company selling running shoes wants to reach people who have liked fitness pages and athletic brands. A political campaign wants to reach people whose likes suggest they care about certain issues.
Hiding your likes from your profile does not change this because the tracking happens on Facebook's servers, not on your profile page. When you click like, Facebook records it in your account data. That data is separate from what appears on your profile. Your profile is just the public-facing version of some of that data — hiding it does not delete it or prevent Facebook from using it.
If you want to limit what Facebook knows about your interests, you have a few options: you can use Facebook less often, like fewer things, or adjust your ad preferences to see what categories Facebook has assigned to you and remove the ones that are wrong. You can also turn off personalized ads in your settings, though this does not prevent Facebook from collecting the data — it only prevents advertisers from using it to target you. None of these options are perfect, but they are the levers available to you.
Hiding likes on mobile versus desktop
The steps are slightly different depending on whether you use Facebook on a phone or a computer, but the end result is the same. On a phone, open the Facebook app, tap the three horizontal lines at the bottom right, scroll down to "Settings and privacy," tap "Settings," tap "Privacy," and then look for "Who can see what you like?" On a computer, the path is the same but you click instead of tap, and the menu icon is in the top right corner instead of the bottom.
Some older versions of Facebook or regional versions may have slightly different wording or menu locations. If you cannot find the exact setting described here, try searching within your settings for the word "like" or "privacy." Facebook's interface changes frequently, so the exact steps may shift over time, but the setting itself has been stable for several years.
What to do if you want more control over your activity
If hiding your likes is not enough and you want to limit what Facebook knows about you more broadly, you can adjust your activity status, turn off location tracking, limit which apps can access your Facebook data, and review which advertisers have your contact information. Each of these is a separate setting in your privacy and security section.
You can also read a copy of your data from Facebook to see exactly what the company has collected about you. Go to Settings, then "Your Facebook Information," then "read Your Information." This shows you your posts, messages, photos, and a detailed log of your activity — including every like you have ever made. Seeing this data in one place often makes clear why privacy settings matter.
Another option is to use a browser extension that limits Facebook's tracking, such as the Facebook Container extension from Mozilla. This does not hide your likes from your profile, but it does prevent Facebook from tracking you across other websites. You can use both — hide your likes on Facebook itself and use a tracking blocker while you browse elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I hide my likes, can the person who posted something still see that I liked it?
Yes. Hiding your likes only hides them from your profile and from other people's activity feeds. The original poster can still see your name in the list of people who liked their post. If you want to prevent them from seeing it, you must unlike the post instead.
Does hiding my likes stop Facebook from using that data for ads?
No. Facebook still records every like you make and uses it to build your interest profile for advertisers, regardless of whether your likes are visible on your profile. Hiding your likes is about privacy from other people, not from Facebook itself.
Can I hide likes on individual posts instead of all at once?
No. The setting applies to all your likes at once — you cannot hide some likes and show others. You can only unlike individual posts if you want to remove them entirely.
What happens to my old likes when I change this setting?
When you set your likes to "Only me," the setting applies to all your past likes as well as new ones. Old likes disappear from your profile and from your friends' activity feeds, but Facebook still has the record of them in your account data.
If I unlike something, does the person who posted it get notified?
No. When you unlike a post, the original poster does not receive a notification. They will only notice if they happen to look at the list of people who liked their post and see that your name is no longer there.