Facebook Privacy Tips
Facebook (now part of Meta) collects more personal data than any other social media platform. With over 20 years of data on billions of users, Meta knows your interests, relationships, political views, shopping habits, and location history. Here's how to limit what they collect.
Top 5 Privacy Tips
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Turn Off "Off-Facebook Activity" Tracking
Settings & Privacy → Settings → Your Facebook Information → Off-Facebook Activity → Manage Future Activity → Disconnect. This stops other websites and apps from sending your browsing history, purchases, and online activity to Facebook. Millions of sites use Meta's tracking pixels—this setting blocks that data from being used for ad targeting.
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Disable Location Tracking
Settings → Privacy → Location → Turn OFF. Facebook constantly tracks your location through GPS, Wi-Fi, and network data. This is used for targeted ads and to build a detailed map of where you go. On mobile, also disable location access in your phone's settings (Settings → Privacy → Location Services → Facebook → Never).
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Limit Who Can See Your Posts and Profile
Settings → Privacy → Who can see your posts? → Friends (not Public). Also review past posts: Settings → Privacy → Limit Past Posts. Public posts are indexed by search engines and visible to anyone, including employers and strangers. Your entire timeline history may be searchable unless you change this.
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Turn Off Facial Recognition (if available)
Settings → Face Recognition → Turn OFF. Facebook scans all photos uploaded to the platform for facial recognition, even if you're not tagged. In some regions this feature has been disabled due to legal pressure, but where it's available, turn it off to prevent Meta from building a biometric profile of your face.
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Be Aware: Facebook Uses Your Data for AI Training
As of 2025, Meta uses public posts, photos, and comments to train AI models. There is no global opt-out for this. In some regions (like the EU), you can object via privacy settings, but in most countries, your content is automatically used for AI training. Assume anything you post on Facebook will be used to train Meta's AI.