How to Handle Privacy Issues on Social Media

Sharing your life or brand on social media doesn't have to mean handing over your privacy. The line between being visible and being overexposed has become incredibly fine, leaving many creators and businesses wondering how to protect themselves without disappearing completely. This guide will walk you through actionable steps to audit your current privacy settings, lock down your accounts on major platforms, and adopt smart habits to keep your private information safe - both for your personal profile and your brand.

Start with a Privacy Audit: See Your Digital Footprint

Before you can fix potential issues, you need a clear picture of what information about you is already out there. A quick digital audit gives you a baseline and often reveals forgotten accounts or public posts you thought were private. Taking 15 minutes to do this can be incredibly revealing.

1. Run a "Vanity Search"

The simplest first step is often the most effective. Open an incognito browser window (so your search history doesn't influence the results) and search for your name, your business name, and any common usernames you use. You might be surprised by what comes up.

• Look for old profiles on sites you no longer use (remember MySpace or LiveJournal?).
• Check the Images tab to see which photos of you or your brand are publicly indexed.
• Note any personal information like your location, email, or phone number that appears in search results. If it's on a site you control, you can remove it. If it's on a third-party site, you may need to contact them for removal.

2. Review Your Tagged Photos and Posts

You can control what you post, but you also need to manage what others post about you. Most platforms allow you to review and approve tags before they appear on your profile. This is your first line of defense against unwanted public association.

• On Facebook: Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Profile and Tagging. Under the "Reviewing" section, turn on "Review posts you're tagged in before the post appears on your profile?"
• On Instagram: Go to Settings and privacy > Tags and Mentions. Here, you can choose to "Manually Approve Tags." This moves all tagged photos into a pending section for you to approve or hide.

Take some time to go through your existing tagged content and untag yourself from anything that you're not comfortable with being publicly visible on your profile.

3. Check Your Connected Apps and Third-Party Permissions

Every time you use your social media account to log into another service - a quiz, a free tool, a game - you grant that service access to some of your data. Over the years, these permissions can pile up, creating potential security vulnerabilities.

• On Facebook: Navigate to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Apps and Websites. You'll see a list of every app and website connected to your Facebook account. Remove any you no longer use or don't recognize.
• On Instagram (and across Meta): Go to your Accounts Center > Password and security > Your apps and sessions. This shows you logged-in devices and apps. You should do the same for your X (Twitter) and Google accounts, as these are also common login authenticators.

Regularly cleaning out these app permissions closes old backdoors to your personal information.

Lock Down Your Profiles: A Platform-by-Platform Guide

Each social media platform has its own unique set of privacy controls. While a completely private profile may not be an option for a public brand, you can still customize who sees what. Here's how to fine-tune the settings on the most popular platforms.

For Instagram Users

Instagram is built on visual sharing, which makes privacy controls particularly important.

• Private vs. Public Account: For personal accounts, switching to a private profile (Settings and privacy > Account privacy) is the single biggest step you can take. For brands, this isn't practical. Instead, focus on granular controls.
• Control Story Replies and Shares: In Settings and privacy > Sharing and remixes, you can decide if you want to allow others to share your posts to their stories or share your stories as messages. Disabling this gives you more control over your content's spread.
• Limit Unwanted Interactions: Use the "Limits" feature (under Interactions) to temporarily stop comments and messages from people who don't follow you. The "Hidden Words" feature also lets you filter out DMs and comments containing offensive words, phrases, or emojis.
• Use the "Restrict" Feature: If you don't want to block someone but want to limit their ability to interact with you, use the Restrict feature. When you restrict someone, their comments on your posts will only be visible to them unless you approve them, and their messages will go to your message requests.

For Facebook Users

Facebook offers a comprehensive, if sometimes confusing, set of privacy options. The best place to start is their guided review.

• Use the Privacy Checkup Tool: This is Facebook's guided tour through your most important privacy settings. Find it in your Settings & Privacy menu. It covers Who can see what you share, How to keep your account secure and more.
• Set Your Default Post Visibility: On the "Profile and Tagging" settings page, you can set the default audience for your future posts to be "Friends" instead of "Public." You can still change the audience for any individual post as you write it.
• Hide Your Friends List: Scammers can scrape public friends lists to create fake profiles and target your connections with phishing attempts. In Settings & Privacy > Settings > How People Find and Contact You, change "Who can see your friends list?" to "Only me" or "Friends."
• Manage Your Profile Information: Review your "About" section and decide how much personal information - like your day-to-day workplace, birthday, or relationship status you really need to make available to everyone. You can limit the visibility for almost every datapoint to specific groups.

For LinkedIn Users

Even on a professional network, you don't need to share everything with everyone.

• Control Who Sees Your Connections: Go to Settings & Privacy > Visibility > Visibility of your profile & network. From there, you can set whether only you can see your connections list. Hiding your full list prevents competitors from scanning your professional network.
• Change Your Profile Viewing Options: Under "Profile viewing options," you can choose to browse LinkedIn in private mode (as an anonymous viewer), which is useful for conducting market research, but keep in mind that it will also prevent you from seeing who has viewed your profile.
• Manage Who Can See Your Email Address: In the "Sign-in & security" tab, you can fine-tune how LinkedIn uses your data and control who can see and download your email address. Setting this to "Only me" is the safest option.

Everyday Habits for a More Private Online Experience

The settings are the fences around your house, but your daily habits are the keys you hand out to visitors. Conscientious daily practices can make an even bigger difference.

Think Before You Post

This is the oldest advice in the book, but it's still the most important. Before sharing anything, get into the habit of asking yourself: Is this something I want online forever? Is my photo background revealing? A street sign? Your house number? Your car's license plate? These details can leak information about you that you hope to keep unseen.

• What information does this post reveal? Are you posting about your kids' school or their challenges without their consent? Is your complaint about work too specific?
• Disable Geotagging: Many apps automatically add your location to every post unless you disable this feature. Sharing that you are at a cafe can seem innocent, but posting your vacation photos while away can inadvertently tell burglars that your home is empty.

Be Skeptical of Friend Requests: Scammers and hackers often use phishing techniques to gain access to your account. Be cautious of any friend requests sent over direct message (DM). If an acquaintance or a random person asks for your phone number or to click a weird link, it is likely they are impersonating someone. Legitimate companies will never ask for your login password via DM.

Use Strong, Unique Passwords and Two-Factor Authentication

This is one of the basic security practices everyone should have, and it's especially important for social media.

• Use Unique Passwords: Don't recycle passwords between sites. If one site is breached, all your other accounts become vulnerable. A password manager can make this easier.
• Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): 2FA adds a layer of security by requiring that you enter a code sent to your phone or an authenticator app in addition to your password. This is the single best way to protect your account from unauthorized access.

Protect Your Audience: Privacy Best Practices for Brands

If you are managing a social media account, your responsibility extends beyond your personal account. You are responsible for protecting the privacy of your followers and audience.

Get Explicit Consent Before Using User-Generated Content (UGC)

While sharing UGC can be an amazing way to build community, always ask permission before posting anything originally submitted by a user. A simple comment like "Can we share this?" shows respect and builds trust. Be clear about how you plan to use their content and stick to what you told them you would do.

Be Transparent About Your Privacy Policy

If you collect user data, such as through a contest or an email subscription form, you should have a clear privacy policy that simply explains what you collect, how you use it, and who it is shared with. This builds transparency and helps people make informed decisions about interacting with your brand.

Secure Your Team's Access

It's common practice for multiple team members to share social media login details, which is a privacy nightmare. As a safeguard, each team member should have their own login credentials on a platform that consolidates social media management. This can help without the risk of shared login details.

Final Thoughts

Handling social media privacy is an ongoing practice, and by refining your presence, managing platforms, and adopting smart daily habits, you can create a safer online experience for yourself and your audience.