Are you at a crossroads with a Facebook friend? Is blocking your best bet? Whether it’s harassment, clashing opinions, a messy breakup or simply annoying posts, hitting that “block” button might just be the solution for your mental well-being.
In this article, we’ll explain how to block someone on Facebook and explore various privacy options that help set boundaries and safeguard your online experience.
Article Roadmap
- How to Block Someone
- How to Access Your Blocked List
- What Is Blocking on Facebook?
- What Can I See After Blocking a Profile?
- FAQs
- Wrap Up
How to Block Someone on Facebook
Desktop
The quickest way to block someone from a desktop browser is:
- Open the person’s profile page.
- Click on the three-dots menu below their cover photo.
- Select Block and hit Confirm on the pop-up that appears next.
The profile page interface.
- Select Block and hit Confirm on the pop-up that appears next.
Select confirm when you’re ready.
Mobile
The steps are pretty similar when you block someone via the Facebook mobile app:
Step 1: Go to the person’s profile page.
Step 2: Select the three-dots menu beside the messaging option that takes you to the Profile Settings screen.
The profile page interface.
Step 3: After selecting Block, a pop-up window will appear, asking for your confirmation.
The Profile Settings screen.
Step 4: Pause, reflect and hit Confirm when you’re ready.
The pop-up notice board.
Facebook Messenger
When you block someone on Messenger, they cannot send messages or call you from their Facebook or Instagram accounts.
Follow these steps to block someone on Messenger:
Step 1: Open the chat with the person you want to block and click on the “𝓲” icon at the top right corner of your screen.
Find the “i” icon in the top-right corner.
Step 2: Scroll down to Privacy and Support to find the Block option.
Scroll down to privacy and support.
Step 3: A pop-up window will appear, asking you to select between blocking just the messages and calls or the Facebook profile.
Choose wisely.
Note: Blocking on Messenger differs from blocking on Facebook. You can still see and visit a profile on Facebook after blocking it on Messenger. You can see their status, likes, comments and tags based on their settings.
Recently, Messenger launched the Restrict feature, which you can find right above the Block option. When you restrict someone on Messenger:
- The chat disappears from your conversation list, and you stop getting notifications.
- The restricted user can’t see if you’ve read their messages and your activity status.
- They won’t get any notifications, so you can restrict and unrestrict profiles without their knowledge.
How to Access Your Blocked List
Seeing the list of blocked people is straightforward:
Desktop
Step 1: Go to your Facebook homepage and click on the down arrow at the top right corner of your screen.
Step 2: Select Settings & Privacy from the drop-down menu and click Settings.
The drop-down menu.
Step 3: Click Blocking in the left-hand panel to see a blocking tool list.
The general settings page.
Step 4: Click the Edit button next to Block Users and select See Your Blocked List in the pop-up window.
List of blocking tools.
Mobile App
The process is slightly different if you want to access the blocked list via the Facebook mobile app:
Step 1: Open the app and go to the settings page. Then click the gear icon in the upper right corner of your screen. This will take you to the Settings & Privacy page.
Step 2: Scroll down to the Audience and Visibility section.
Click the gear icon and scroll down to audience and visibility.
Step 3: Click Blocking, and you’ll see the list of people blocked from your profile.
The list also provides an alternative method for blocking people. You can find people in the search bar and add them to the list without visiting their profile pages.
What Is Blocking on Facebook?
Blocking allows you to restrict a profile from seeing and interacting with your posts, comments and updates. When you block someone’s profile, they won’t be able to:
- Add you as a friend
- See your posts and timeline
- Tag you in statuses, comments and photos
- Chat with you or send DMs
- Send you event and group invitations
When you block a friend, Facebook automatically unfriends and unfollows that profile, removing their activities from your feed. However, keep in mind that blocking and other restrictions are profile-specific — if the blocked person creates a new profile, they can contact you again.
What Can I See After Blocking a Profile?
Blocking a person prevents them from directly interacting with you. But you may still encounter them through mutual friends and tagged posts.
Here’s a list of things you can see after blocking a person:
- Messages: Your message history with the blocked person remains in the inbox. Your mutual friends can also add you to a group chat with the blocked person. But you can easily delete or leave a conversation whenever you want.
- Mutual Friend’s Content: If the blocked person and a mutual friend tag each other in a photo, the tagged content will appear on your mutual friend’s timeline, and it’ll be visible to you.
- Groups: You can see if the blocked person is a member or creator of a group, but they can’t view your group activities or send you invites.
- Events: The blocked profile cannot send you event invitations, but you’ll be able to see common events to which both of you are invited.
- Games and Apps: Your blocks are ineffective in games and apps developed by third parties. You may encounter a blocked profile in a game’s chat room or as an opponent.
- Marketplace: Buyers can leave reviews even if the seller has blocked their profiles. Similarly, sellers can read and comment on reviews left by buyers who blocked them.
- Additional Profiles: Blocking a person doesn’t carry over to any other profile they have or may create in the future.
FAQs
What does someone see when you block them on Facebook?
When you block a person, they can’t see your comments, photos, statuses and updates. They also can’t send you messages and tag you in photos. If they search your name, the results will not list your profile. If the blocked user has tagged pictures with you on their profile, your tags get removed automatically, and they can’t see your tag on mutual friends’ content.
Does someone know when you block them?
No, the blocked user doesn’t receive any notifications. Blocking is meant to be elusive, and it defeats the purpose if blocked users get alerts when someone blocks them. But there are specific ways to deduce if you’re blocked or not.
How can I know if someone has blocked me on Facebook?
To protect its user’s privacy, Facebook doesn’t show who blocked you or send notifications when you’re blocked.
But there are a few ways to tell if someone blocked you on Facebook or if it’s simply a case of the person deactivating their profile:
- Send a message to a friend using Messenger. If you see, “This person isn’t available right now,” they may have blocked you or deactivated their profile.
- Check your friends’ comments and posts on your timeline. If their name isn’t a clickable link, chances are you’re blocked.
- Ask a third party, like a friend or a family member, to open your friend’s profile using their account. You’re blocked if they can visit the profile. If not, then the account is deactivated.
How do I block someone from my Facebook page?
Follow these steps to block someone from your Facebook page:
- Click on your page’s icon from the left-hand panel on your homepage.
- Select Privacy and go to Blocking.
- On the following page, you’ll find a search bar to locate users, profiles, apps and other pages that you want to block.
- Select the profile, read the terms and conditions and hit Confirm to block the profile from your page.
Is it better to block or unfriend someone on Facebook?
Facebook wants us to use the block feature as the final straw and offers other tools with varying degrees of constraint. Consider these alternatives before blocking someone:
- Snooze: Temporarily hides a profile’s posts for 30 days. You can customize the time limit for snoozing someone’s posts.
- Hide: You can hide specific posts from your feed. The Facebook algorithm tries to prevent similar posts from appearing in your feed.
- Unfollow: Unfollowing is helpful in keeping people on your friend list whose shares and posts you don’t want to see regularly. It stops their content from appearing on your daily feed.
- Unfriend: This option removes a profile from your friend list and prevents them from seeing your non-public posts. Both of you can still visit and see each other’s public profiles and posts.
Wrap Up
We spend a considerable amount of our time scrolling through social media feeds. But social media is a cesspool of creativity and polarized opinions. You need to filter what you regularly see to keep your sanity intact and prevent yourself from flowing away into a whirlpool of negativity. Thankfully, Facebook makes it simple and inconspicuous to block users (in varying degrees) who cross the line.
It’s also easy to unblock profiles, but remember, it’s far harder to amend relationships in real life. Be wise while using the tools at your disposal and make decisions that enrich your life.
Hopefully, this guide answers your questions on how to block someone on Facebook. Do you feel Facebook needs more restrictive tools? How do you think Facebook can help us filter content and people better? Let us know in the comment box.
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