How Private Is Facebook?

Facebook is still the largest social media network and growing every day. Millions of people love connecting with their family and friends through this platform. But some people worry about their privacy on Facebook, and despite the support pages, there seems to still be some confusion as to what information is private.

So I thought it would be a good idea to look at what Facebook’s basic privacy policies are, as a refresher.

What Information Is Public Or Private On Facebook:

Your Information That Is Always Public:

The information you share that is not private and always public is some of the information you supply when you fill out your profile.

Examples include;

-Your age range, language and country.

-Your Public Profile which includes your name, gender, username and user ID (account number), profile picture, cover photo and other social networks.

Your Activities That Are Always Public:

-When you choose to share something and use a Public audience selector, it’s always considered public information.

-If you share something and you don’t see an audience selector or another privacy setting, that information is also public.

-If other people share info about you, even if it’s something you shared with them but did not make public, they can choose to make it public.

-Also when you comment on other people’s public posts, your comment is public as well.

-Or if someone changes the status of a post to Public after you have liked or commented on it, your like and comment will then become Public as well.

-Facebook Pages and public groups are public spaces and anyone who can see the Page or group can also see your post or comment on those pages and in those groups.

-Generally, when you post or comment on a Page or to a public group, a story can be published in News Feed as well as other places on or off Facebook.

-Membership in groups, even closed groups, can also sometimes not be private from your friends. If a member of your group is also friends with one of your friends, your friend can see your membership and activity.

In Summary, your public information on Facebook can:

Be associated with you, and shown anywhere, even off Facebook.
Show up if anyone does a search on Facebook or on any other search engine.
Be accessible by Facebook-integrated games, applications and websites you, your friends, and the public uses.

I hope this summary helps clear up any confusion or questions you had in regards to what information was private or public on Facebook.
*This post was written as per Facebook’s guidelines, 2017.

Update as of February 2020. Facebook has also confirmed that it keeps data on people who don’t have Facebook accounts. This data is usually collected from contact lists.