Social Media Privacy Settings to Change Today
The default privacy settings on every major social media platform favor exposure over protection. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn all ship with settings that share your data broadly — because that's how they make money. A Pew Research study found that 74% of social media users have never changed their default privacy settings, leaving personal information, friend lists, location data, and browsing habits exposed to advertisers, data brokers, and scammers.
Changing these settings takes about 20 minutes total and dramatically reduces your digital attack surface.
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Facebook Privacy Settings
Facebook collects more personal data than any other social platform. These changes make the biggest impact:
Who can see your posts: Settings → Privacy → Who can see your future posts → "Friends" (not "Public"). Also click "Limit Past Posts" to retroactively restrict old posts.
Who can look you up: Settings → Privacy → Who can look you up using your email/phone → "Friends" (scammers use email and phone number lookups to build target profiles).
Profile visibility: Settings → Privacy → Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile → "No." This prevents your Facebook profile from appearing in Google search results.
App permissions: Settings → Apps and Websites → Remove any apps you don't actively use. Each connected app has access to your profile information.
Ad preferences: Settings → Ad Preferences → Ad Settings → Turn off all "Data about your activity from partners" toggles. This reduces (but doesn't eliminate) targeted advertising based on your off-Facebook activity.
Face recognition: Settings → Face Recognition → "No." Prevents Facebook from identifying you in photos others upload.
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Instagram Privacy Settings
Account privacy: Settings → Privacy → Account Privacy → Set to Private (especially for accounts used by teens). Private accounts require approval for new followers and hide your content from non-followers.
Activity status: Settings → Privacy → Activity Status → Off. This hides when you're online, preventing strangers from knowing when you're active.
Message controls: Settings → Privacy → Messages → Set "Others on Instagram" to "Don't receive requests." This blocks unsolicited DMs from people you don't follow — a primary channel for scams and harassment.
Story sharing: Settings → Privacy → Story → Disable "Allow Sharing to Messages." This prevents people from forwarding your stories to others.
Tagged photos: Settings → Privacy → Tags → Enable "Manually Approve Tags." This prevents people from tagging you in inappropriate or scam-related content.
TikTok Privacy Settings
Account privacy: Settings → Privacy → Set account to Private for users under 16 (this should be default but verify).
Who can send DMs: Settings → Privacy → Direct Messages → "No One" or "Friends" (depending on your needs). TikTok DMs are a common channel for scams targeting younger users.
Who can Stitch/Duet your videos: Settings → Privacy → Stitch/Duet → "Friends" or "No One." Prevents strangers from using your content.
Personalized ads: Settings → Privacy → Personalized Ads → Disable.
Download your data: Settings → Privacy → Download Your Data to see exactly what TikTok has collected about you. Many users are surprised by the volume.
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X (Twitter) Privacy Settings
Protect your posts: Settings → Privacy and Safety → Audience and Tagging → Protect Your Posts. Only approved followers see your content. (Note: this makes your account effectively private, which isn't appropriate for all users.)
Direct messages: Settings → Privacy and Safety → Direct Messages → Uncheck "Allow message requests from everyone." Scammers use DMs for crypto fraud, fake job offers, and romance scams.
Location: Settings → Privacy and Safety → Location Information → Disable "Add location information to your posts."
Discoverability: Settings → Privacy and Safety → Discoverability and Contacts → Disable "Let people who have your email/phone find you." Prevents scammers from finding your account using leaked contact info from data breaches.
LinkedIn Privacy Settings
Profile viewing options: Settings → Visibility → Profile Viewing Options → "Private mode." Prevents people from knowing you viewed their profile — and prevents them from targeting you.
Connection visibility: Settings → Visibility → Who can see your connections → "Only you." Your connection list is a goldmine for scammers impersonating your colleagues.
Email visibility: Settings → Visibility → Who can see your email → "Only me" or "1st-degree connections."
Messaging: Settings → Communications → Who can reach you → Restrict open messaging if you're receiving unsolicited contact.
Cross-Platform Tips
- Regularly audit your friends/followers list — remove accounts you don't recognize
- Don't post your birthday, phone number, or home address on any public profile
- Disable location tagging on posts — it reveals your routine and when you're away from home
- Use different email addresses for social media and financial accounts
- Review third-party app connections quarterly
- Enable login alerts on all platforms so you know if someone accesses your account
- Be cautious about quizzes and surveys — they're often data harvesting tools
For more on protecting your accounts, see our guides on enabling 2FA and creating strong passwords.
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