Social Media Privacy Settings: Platform-by-Platform Guide

Social media platforms default to maximum data collection and broad visibility because that serves their advertising business model, not your privacy. Every platform provides privacy controls, but they are buried in settings menus and frequently change location after redesigns. This guide provides specific, current settings to lock down your profiles on the major platforms.

Facebook Privacy Settings

Navigate to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Privacy on desktop or through the mobile app.

Who can see your posts: Set to “Friends” instead of “Public.” Use “Limit Past Posts” to retroactively restrict old content you shared publicly.

Who can send you friend requests: Set to “Friends of Friends” to reduce scam and bot connection requests.

Profile information visibility: Review each field (phone number, email, birthday, relationship status, workplace) and set visibility to “Only me” or “Friends” as appropriate.

Face recognition: Disable if available in your region (Meta has removed this feature in some jurisdictions after regulatory pressure).

Off-Facebook Activity: This shows websites and apps that share your activity with Facebook for ad targeting. Clear history and disable future activity tracking under Settings > Your Facebook Information > Off-Facebook Activity.

Search engine indexing: Under Privacy Settings, set “Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?” to “No.”

App permissions: Review and remove apps connected to your Facebook account under Settings > Apps and Websites. Many connected apps were authorized years ago and no longer needed.

Instagram Privacy Settings

Private account: Toggle on under Settings > Privacy > Account Privacy. Only approved followers can see your posts, stories, and follower list.

Activity status: Disable under Settings > Privacy > Activity Status to hide when you are online.

Story sharing: Under Settings > Privacy > Story, disable sharing to Facebook and restrict who can see your stories.

Mentions and tags: Under Settings > Privacy > Tags, set to manually approve tags before they appear on your profile.

LinkedIn Privacy Settings

Profile viewing: Under Settings > Visibility > Profile viewing options, choose “Private mode” if you do not want others to know you viewed their profile.

Connection visibility: Under Settings > Visibility, hide your connections list from other members.

Data sharing with third parties: Review Settings > Data Privacy > Third Parties and restrict sharing.

General Principles Across Platforms

Audit connected apps quarterly and remove unused ones. Disable location tagging on posts. Review and restrict who can see your friends or connections list. Turn off activity status indicators. Set posts to friends-only by default.

For more on the tracking these platforms perform, see our cookies and tracking guide. To reduce your broader digital presence, explore our digital footprint reduction guide.

TikTok Privacy Settings

Navigate to Settings > Privacy. Set your account to Private. Disable “Suggest your account to others.” Under Personalization and Data, disable “Personalized ads” and review “Download your data” to see what TikTok has collected. Disable “Allow your content to be used to train AI” if available in your region.

TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is uniquely powerful and operates primarily on behavioral signals (what you watch, how long, what you skip) rather than explicit profile data. Even with privacy settings tightened, TikTok collects detailed behavioral data during usage. The most effective privacy protection for TikTok is limiting usage time and being aware that every interaction informs the algorithm.

Regular Maintenance

Social media platforms frequently update their privacy settings and sometimes reset user preferences during updates. Set a quarterly reminder to review your privacy settings on all platforms. Follow privacy-focused accounts that announce setting changes and new privacy features.