Social Media Privacy: Settings to Change on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok
Social media makes it easy to stay in touch, but it also makes it easy to overshare. Your phone number, location, workplace, family members and daily routine can all be visible to strangers if your settings are left on default. Scammers, identity thieves and even stalkers use this information.
This guide walks you through the most important privacy settings on the biggest platforms. App menus change often, so if a setting has moved, use the search bar inside the app's settings.
Four privacy principles
- Limit your audience. Share posts with friends or followers you know, not "Public".
- Hide personal details. Your phone number, email, birth date and address do not need to be visible.
- Control tagging. Review photos and posts others tag you in before they appear on your profile.
- Think before posting. Holiday photos posted in real time tell people your home is empty; photos of children in school uniforms reveal where they study.
Open Settings & privacy → Settings. Facebook also offers a Privacy Checkup that walks you through the key settings.
- Future posts: under Audience and visibility → Posts, set Who can see your future posts to Friends.
- Limit past posts: use Limit who can see past posts to change old public posts to Friends in one step.
- Profile details: edit your profile and set phone number, email, birth year and relationship details to Only me.
- Friend list: hide who is in your friend list, which scammers use to impersonate people you know.
- Search: under How people find and contact you, limit who can look you up by phone number or email.
- Profile lock: in some regions, including Pakistan and India, you can lock your profile so only friends see your photos and posts.
- Private account: Settings → Account privacy → turn on Private account. Only approved followers will see your posts and stories.
- Close Friends: share personal stories only with a smaller Close Friends list.
- Tags and mentions: choose who can tag and mention you, and turn on manual approval for tags.
- Messages: under Messages and story replies, control who can send you message requests.
- Activity status: turn off Show activity status if you do not want others to see when you are online.
- Hidden words: filter offensive comments and messages automatically.
TikTok
- Private account: Settings and privacy → Privacy → turn on Private account.
- Suggest your account to others: turn off suggestions to contacts and Facebook friends if you want to stay low-profile.
- Comments, duets and stitches: limit these to friends or turn them off.
- Direct messages: restrict who can message you.
- Location: avoid tagging exact locations on videos, especially near your home.
Go to Settings → Privacy and review:
- Profile photo, About and Last seen: set to My contacts or Nobody.
- Groups: set who can add you to groups to My contacts, which stops strangers adding you to scam groups.
- Silence unknown callers: under Calls, turn this on to block spam calls from unknown numbers.
- Turn on two-step verification so your account cannot be stolen with an SMS code.
Photos and location data
Photos can contain hidden location data. On most phones, the camera app has a setting to turn off location tags. Many social platforms remove this data when you upload, but files sent as documents in chat apps may keep it. Also check which apps have permission to your location in your phone settings and remove it from apps that do not need it.
Remove connected apps and old accounts
Quizzes, games and "which celebrity do you look like" apps often ask to connect to your Facebook or Google account. Review connected apps in each platform's settings and remove anything you no longer use. Delete accounts on platforms you have abandoned; old, forgotten accounts are easy targets for hackers.
Frequently asked questions
If my account is private, is everything hidden?
Not quite. Your name, profile photo and bio are often still visible. Followers can also take screenshots, so private does not mean completely secret.
Should children use social media?
Most major platforms require users to be at least 13. For younger users, see our guide on parental controls and online safety.
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