When was the last time you actually looked at your Facebook privacy settings? If you are like most people, your account is probably running on Meta’s default settings.
In the digital world, default settings rarely work in your favour. Facebook continuously updates its platform, often introducing deep data tracking, cross-platform sharing, and targeted advertising features that are switched on by default.
Thankfully, you don’t have to spend hours digging through complicated menus. Meta has a built-in tool called the Facebook Privacy Checkup that lets you lock down your account in minutes.
If you want to protect your personal data, stop advertisers from tracking your online habits, and secure your profile from strangers, here are the three critical privacy settings you need to change right now.
How to find the Facebook privacy checkup tool
Before updating your preferences, you need to find the main privacy hub.
On mobile (iPhone & Android):
- Open the Facebook app and tap your profile icon or the three horizontal lines (menu) in the bottom right or top right corner.
- Scroll down and tap Settings & privacy, then select Settings.
- Under the account section, tap Privacy Checkup.
On a desktop computer:
- Click your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.
- Select Settings & privacy, then click Privacy Checkup.
Once you are in, you will see several distinct topics. Here are the three most important areas to fix immediately.
1. Stop search engines from linking to your profile
- Where to find it: Privacy Checkup > How people can find you on Facebook
Did you know that by default, anyone can type your full name into Google and potentially find your Facebook profile? This setting leaves the door wide open for recruiters, strangers, or data brokers to see your information.
When you go through the “How people can find you” section, you will see options controlling who can look you up via your phone number or email address. Change these to Friends or Only me.
On the final screen of this section, you will see a toggle that says: “Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?” The fix: Turn this toggle off. It can take a few days to take effect, but it stops Google, Bing, and other search engines from indexing your personal timeline.
2. Lock down who can see your past and future posts
- Where to find it: Privacy Checkup > Who can see what you share
If you have had your Facebook account for a decade or more, you probably have old status updates, photos, and check-ins that you wouldn’t want a new employer or a stranger to see.
Inside this section, check your Future posts setting and make sure it is set to Friends, rather than Public.
More importantly, look for the option that says Limit past posts.
The fix: Click Limit. This instantly changes the audience for every single post you have ever shared from Public or Friends of friends to Friends only. It is a fantastic way to clean up your digital footprint in a single click without manually deleting hundreds of old memories.
3. Disallow advertisers from using your personal profiling data
- Where to find it: Privacy Checkup > Your ad preferences on Facebook
Facebook makes its money by selling highly targeted advertising spaces. To do this, it builds a detailed profile about you based on the personal information you provided when you signed up.
When you click into your ad preferences, Facebook will show you a list of categories that advertisers use to target you, including your relationship status, employer, job title, and education level.
The fix: Toggle all of these categories off. While this won’t stop you from seeing adverts on Facebook, it means the adverts you do see will be generic, and Meta will no longer be allowed to hand over your specific demographic data to corporate advertisers.
A final step for data privacy: Check your off-Facebook activity
While the Privacy Checkup tool handles your on-platform safety, there is one extra setting hidden outside the tool that you should check to stop Facebook from tracking you across the wider internet.
Go to your main Settings, open the Accounts Center, and look for Your information and permissions. From there, select Off-Meta activity.
Here, you will see a massive list of real-world websites, apps, and online shops that secretly send reports back to Facebook about your browsing habits and purchases. Click Clear past activity and disconnect your future activity to stop this hidden tracking completely.
