Facebook Privacy Settings You Must Change Right Now

Facebook is useful for keeping up with family, local groups, community notices and events, but its default settings can expose more information than many Australians realise. A public birthday, visible friends list or searchable phone number may give scammers enough material to make a convincing approach.

Privacy controls also affect what appears in your feed and which advertisers can build a profile around your online activity. The settings are spread across several menus, and Facebook regularly changes the names or location of options, so a quick review is worth doing from both the app and a desktop browser.

This matters in Australia because social media scams often imitate banks, parcel companies, government services and well-known brands. A person in Sydney, Perth or a regional Queensland town can receive the same fraudulent message, but local details such as an Australian mobile number, suburb or sporting club can make it look authentic.

You do not need to delete your account or stop posting altogether. A few targeted changes can reduce unwanted contact, limit public exposure and give you greater control over the data used for recommendations and advertising.

Start With Your Audience Controls

Open Facebook’s Settings & privacy area, then review Privacy Checkup. This guided tool covers who can see your posts, how people find you and which apps may access account information. It is a convenient first pass, although it does not always expose every important option.

Set future posts to Friends unless you have a clear reason to publish publicly. Review past public posts as well, using the option that limits the audience for older content. This can be particularly useful if your profile contains years of updates from school, work, holidays or nights out in Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

Check the audience selector every time you post. Facebook can remember the last setting you used, so a public post in a community group or on a Marketplace listing can create confusion about who else can view it. Public visibility is sometimes necessary, but it should be a deliberate choice rather than the default.

Stories, reels and profile details need their own review. Set stories to friends or a selected audience, and hide information such as your exact birth date, current address and personal email. Your profile picture and cover image may still be widely visible, so avoid using images that reveal house numbers, school uniforms or location details.

Reduce Unwanted Contact And Searchability

Under privacy settings, change who can send you friend requests to Friends of friends. This will not stop every suspicious account, but it makes random approaches less common. It also reduces the chance of accepting a request from a profile created only to collect information.

Set searches by phone number and email address to the most restrictive available option, usually Only me or a limited audience. Turn off search engine linking if you do not want your public Facebook profile appearing in Google results. These changes make it harder for someone to connect your Facebook account with details found elsewhere.

Review the setting for who can look you up through your name. If your name is common, a visible workplace, school or suburb can help strangers identify the correct person. Remove outdated employers, old schools and unnecessary location details from the About section.

Be cautious with contact syncing in the Facebook and Messenger apps. When enabled, address-book uploads can connect your account with phone numbers belonging to friends, clients or relatives. Disable contact uploading and delete previously uploaded contacts where Facebook provides that option.

Lock Down Personal Details

A birthday can seem harmless, but the full date can contribute to identity fraud when combined with a name, suburb and other public information. Display only the day and month, or hide the birthday entirely. There is little benefit in giving strangers access to the complete date.

Check your relationship status, family members, workplace, education history and places lived. Old information can reveal answers to security questions or help a scammer sound familiar. If you use Facebook to manage a page for a small business, keep business contact details on the page and avoid publishing private details on your personal profile.

Location tags deserve special attention. Posting that you are away from home, checking in at an airport or sharing live updates from a holiday can tell people when a property is empty. This is worth remembering during school holidays, long weekends and trips between Australian cities.

Review old photographs with the activity log. Untag yourself from images you no longer want associated with your profile, and ask friends to remove posts that reveal sensitive information. Your own privacy settings cannot fully control material posted by other people, so tagging settings and direct conversations matter as well.

Details Worth Hiding

• Full date of birth and personal email address
• Home address, regular commute and live location
• Workplace history and old school information
• Children’s names, uniforms and regular activities

Control Apps, Devices And Login Alerts

Third-party apps may have gained access when you used Facebook to sign in to a game, shopping service, quiz or competition. Visit Apps and websites and remove anything you no longer recognise or use. An abandoned app can retain permission to basic profile information until access is revoked.

Check active sessions under Where you’re logged in. Sign out of old phones, shared computers and devices you no longer own. If a session shows an unfamiliar location, remember that mobile networks can display an imprecise city; still, an unknown device or browser should be treated seriously.

Enable two-factor authentication, preferably with an authenticator app or a security key. Text messages are better than no second step, but they can be affected by SIM-swap fraud. Use a unique password for Facebook and store it in a reputable password manager rather than reusing a password from email or online shopping.

Turn on login alerts and review recent security emails. Facebook will not ask you to send a password or one-time code through Messenger. Scam messages often claim that an account will be deleted, a copyright complaint has been filed or a prize is waiting, then direct the recipient to a fake login page.

Security Checks To Complete

• Remove unused apps and connected websites
• Sign out of unfamiliar or older devices
• Activate two-factor authentication
• Enable alerts for unrecognised logins

Limit Tracking And Personalised Advertising

Facebook’s Ad preferences area allows you to inspect some of the topics and activity signals used to personalise advertising. Remove categories that are inaccurate or overly revealing, and review information associated with advertisers. These controls may not eliminate ads, but they can reduce some forms of targeting.

Look at settings covering activity from advertising partners and information gathered outside Facebook. You may be able to disconnect certain off-platform activity or limit its use for personalised adverts. Also review location services on your phone, particularly if Facebook has no practical reason to access your precise location.

The result will not be a completely private Facebook experience. Meta can still process information needed to operate the service, and settings vary by account, device and region. Read each screen carefully instead of assuming one switch controls everything.

For example, if Facebook begins showing gambling promotions after you search for a casino near me, check ad preferences and the permissions of other apps involved in that browsing activity. Do not click a suspicious promotion merely to investigate it; use Facebook’s reporting tools and visit legitimate services through independently verified websites.

Australians should also remember that the Australian Privacy Principles and the Privacy Act shape how many organisations handle personal information, but they do not turn every social media post into private communication. Think carefully before publishing information that could affect employment, insurance, safety or family life.

Make Groups, Tags And Messenger Safer

Groups can be valuable for neighbourhood updates, Buy Nothing exchanges, local football, bushwalking and community events. They can also contain hundreds or thousands of members. Before posting, check the group’s privacy label and assume that screenshots may travel beyond the group.

Change who can post on your profile and who can see posts that others add. Enable tag review so a photo or mention does not appear automatically on your timeline. You can still be tagged elsewhere on Facebook, but review gives you a chance to remove unwanted associations.

In Messenger, use message delivery controls to decide where requests from people you do not know should go. Restrict or block accounts that send investment pitches, romance approaches, fake parcel notices or urgent requests for money. A profile with Australian slang, local photos or mutual friends is not automatically genuine.

Report impersonation and scams through Facebook, then preserve screenshots and relevant account details. For broader guidance about online scams, Australians can consult Scamwatch, while serious threats or image-based abuse may require help from the eSafety Commissioner or police. Do not retaliate against a suspected scammer, since engagement can confirm that your account is active.

Review these settings every few months and after a major app update. Privacy menus change, new devices are added and old permissions accumulate quietly. A short check after moving house, changing jobs or ending a relationship can prevent outdated information from remaining visible.

Use these controls today: set future posts to friends, hide unnecessary personal details, remove old app access, activate two-factor authentication and inspect ad tracking. Then open your profile as another person would see it, remove anything you would not want a stranger to know and report suspicious contact promptly. Small adjustments make Facebook safer without giving up the connections that make it useful.