Facebook safety and privacy settings

How to block someone

There is more than one way to block someone.

To block someone from their page:

Step 1 – From your home feed, click the magnifying glass in the top right and search for the person to block.

When blocking someone in the comments section, tap on their profile picture or name to get to their profile.

Step 2 – On their profile, select the 3 dots under their name.

Step 3 – Then select Block and Block again.

To block someone from your privacy settings:

Step 1 – From your home feed, tap the 3 horizontal bars in the top right-hand corner.

Step 2 – Select the gear icon in the top right.

Step 3 – Scroll down to Audience and visibility, then tap Blocking to see the account’s list of blocked users.

Step 4 – Tap + ADD TO BLOCKED LIST

Step 5 – Then search for the name or email and tap Block and then Block again.

Report users and comments

If users or comments go against Facebook’s community standards, they can be reported.

To report a comment:

Step 1 – Long-press the comment that you wish to report until a menu comes up. Tap Find support or report comment.

Step 2 – Follow the instructions to select which standards it goes against and then tap Submit.

To report a user:

Step 1 – Tap on their name or profile picture from their comment and select the 3 dots under their name.

Step 2 – Select Report profile and follow the instructions then Submit.

Who can see your profile and content

Facebook has many settings to help users manage who can see what they post.

To manage how people can find your account:

Step 1 – From your news feed, tap the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner and then the gear icon. Scroll down to Audience and visibility and tap How people can find and contact you.

Step 2 – Change each option to Friends and change the search engines option to No.

To manage who can see posts:

Step 1 – From your news feed, tap the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner and then the gear icon. Scroll down to Audience and visibility and tap Posts.

Step 2 – Set each section to Friends. Individual posts can be edited to change the audience for that post only.

To manage who can see stories:

Step 1 – From your news feed, tap the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner and then the gear icon. Scroll down to Audience and visibility and tap Stories.

Step 2 – Select each option to limit who can see your stories. Options include Public and Friends as well as Custom options and options to hide stories from specific people.

To manage who can see reels:

Step 1 – From your news feed, tap the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner and then the gear icon. Scroll down to Audience and visibility and tap Reels.

Step 2 – Select from Public and Friends as well as Friends except… which allows you to select individual people to keep from seeing your reels.

Who can contact you

Under Audience and visibility, you can also manage who can follow and tag you or your teen.

To manage followers:

Step 1 – Tap Followers and public content. Decide who can follow you, who can comment on public posts, who you receive public push notifications from and who can interact with public information on your profile like your profile picture.

To manage who can tag you:

Step 1 – Tap on Profile and tagging. Adjust settings for viewing and sharing content on your profile, tagging you in photos and posts and whether you want to review tags that people add of you.

How to manage screen time

You can see how you or your child is spending their time on Facebook.

If you want to manage your time on Facebook:

Step 1 – From the home feed, click the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner and then the gear icon.

Step 2 – Tap Your time on Facebook, under Preferences. You can set up quiet mode by tapping Manage your time or can manage which notifications you receive by tapping Control your notifications.

Privacy Checkup

This is a great tool to use as you can manage your and your family’s privacy and security settings.

To go to Privacy Checkup:

Step 1 – From the home feed, tap the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner then select the gear icon. Select Privacy Checkup under Account. This will give you a step-by-step guide to review your account privacy.

Security Checkup

Make sure your or your child’s account is secure by reviewing these settings.

Step 1 – Tap the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner and then the gear icon. Under Account, select Privacy and security.

Step 2 – Under Recommended, tap Check your important security settings and follow the prompts to update important account information.