You can hide people from Facebook's "People You May Know" section, but Facebook will keep suggesting them
Facebook's "People You May Know" feature shows you accounts the platform thinks you might want to follow, based on mutual friends, shared interests, workplace, school, or contact information. You can remove individual people from this section by clicking the X next to their name or profile card. However, removing someone does not stop Facebook from collecting data about you or from showing you other suggestions — it only hides that one person from your view.
The removal is temporary and local to your account. Facebook does not notify the person you removed. If the platform later thinks you have a new reason to connect with them (a mutual friend adds them, you both join a group), they may reappear in your suggestions.
Key Takeaways
- Removing someone from "People You May Know" hides them from that section only and does not prevent Facebook from suggesting them again later.
- Facebook gathers the data it uses for suggestions from your friends list, contact uploads, browsing history, location, and workplace or school information you provide.
- The person you remove is not notified, and removing them does not change what data Facebook holds about either of you.
- If you want to limit suggestions broadly, you can restrict who sees your friends list and adjust your contact and location settings in Privacy Settings.
How to remove one person from "People You May Know"
Open Facebook on a web browser or the mobile app. Find the "People You May Know" section — on desktop, this usually appears in the right sidebar or under the Friends section; on mobile, swipe to the Friends tab and scroll down. Locate the person you want to remove.
On desktop, hover over their profile card and click the X button in the top right corner. On mobile, tap the three dots next to their name and select "Remove." Facebook will when ready hide that person from the section on your account. You will not see a confirmation message.
Why Facebook shows you these suggestions in the first place
Facebook uses several types of information to build "People You May Know" lists. The most common source is your mutual friends — if you and another person have friends in common, Facebook assumes you might know each other. The platform also uses contact information: if you have uploaded your phone contacts or email contacts to Facebook (through the app's contact sync feature), Facebook matches those contacts to accounts and suggests them to you.
Facebook also factors in your workplace and school information, location data, and browsing behavior. If you and another person both listed the same employer or university, or if you both visited the same websites that have Facebook tracking pixels, the platform may suggest them. Groups you join, events you attend, and pages you follow also feed into the algorithm.
What happens to your data when you remove someone
Removing someone from "People You May Know" does not delete any data. Facebook still holds all the information it collected about you and about the person you removed. The platform continues to track your activity, your friends, your location (if you allow it), and your browsing across the web.
Removing one person is a visibility choice only — it changes what you see, not what Facebook stores or how the company uses your information. If you want to reduce the amount of data Facebook collects for suggestions, you need to change your privacy settings rather than remove individual people.
Limiting "People You May Know" through privacy settings
Go to Settings & Privacy, then Settings. Select Privacy in the left menu. Under "Who can see your friends list?", choose "Only me" instead of "Public" or "Friends." This prevents strangers from seeing your full friends list, which is one source Facebook uses for suggestions.
Next, find Apps and Websites in the left menu. Under "Apps and websites others use," you can see which apps and websites have sent Facebook information about you. You can remove individual apps or websites from this list, though Facebook will continue to collect data from new sites you visit.
In the same Privacy section, look for "Contacts" or "Contact Uploading." You can turn off the ability for apps to access your phone contacts. You can also review and delete previously uploaded contacts by going to Settings > Apps and Websites > Uploaded Contacts and selecting "Remove All."
Controlling location data and contact information
Facebook uses your location to suggest people nearby. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location and set it to "Off" or "Only me." On mobile, you can also go to your phone's settings and deny Facebook permission to access your location entirely. This prevents Facebook from using your physical location as a basis for suggestions, though the platform may still infer your general location from your IP address.
If you have synced your phone contacts with Facebook in the past, those contacts remain on Facebook's servers even if you delete them from your phone. To see and manage uploaded contacts, go to Settings > Apps and Websites > Uploaded Contacts. You can delete all uploaded contacts at once, though Facebook may still have records of them.
Why you may see the same person suggested again
If you remove someone and they reappear in "People You May Know" weeks or months later, it is because Facebook has detected a new connection between you. This might be a mutual friend you both recently added, a group you both joined, or new contact information that links you. You can remove them again, but the cycle may repeat if the underlying connection remains.
Facebook does not offer a way to permanently block someone from appearing in "People You May Know" without unfriending or blocking them entirely. Unfriending someone removes them from your friends list but does not prevent them from appearing in suggestions. Blocking someone prevents them from seeing your profile and removes them from suggestions, but they will know they are blocked if they try to visit your profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the person know I removed them from "People You May Know"?
No. Facebook does not notify people when you remove them from this section. The person will not see any notification or indication that you took this action. They may never know you removed them unless they happen to check your profile and notice you are not in their suggestions.
If I block someone, will they stop appearing in "People You May Know"?
Yes. Blocking someone removes them from suggestions and prevents them from finding your profile, sending you messages, or seeing your posts. However, blocking is visible to the other person if they try to visit your profile or search for you. Removing someone from suggestions is invisible; blocking is not.
Can I turn off "People You May Know" entirely?
No. Facebook does not offer a setting to disable this feature completely. You can only remove individual people from the section as they appear. You can reduce the number of suggestions by limiting contact uploads, hiding your friends list, and turning off location sharing, but the feature itself cannot be turned off.
Why do I keep seeing the same person suggested over and over?
This usually means you share a mutual connection with them, or Facebook has detected a new link between you (a shared group, workplace, or contact). Each time a new connection forms, Facebook may re-suggest them. Removing them again will hide them until another connection appears.
Does removing someone from suggestions affect my privacy with them?
No. Removing someone from "People You May Know" does not change your privacy settings with that person or any other user. They can still see your profile if it is public, message you if you allow it, or tag you in posts. To actually restrict what someone can see, you need to adjust your privacy settings or block them.