i Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Facebook is the most popular social network in the world, with more than a billion users visiting every month. Not everyone on Facebook wants to be found, however, and some users want to remain anonymous. While Facebook’s policies prevent anonymous accounts, there are steps you can take to keep your information private and more difficult to find.
Real Names
Facebook’s Terms of Use require you to give your real name, although shortened versions of your real name are permissible. The use of a fake name could result in the suspension of your profile until your real name is provided. It is also against Facebook policy to create more than one personal account. If your account is disabled, you must submit an appeal to Facebook to get the account reinstated.
Searches
While you cannot hide your identity by using a fake name, you can conceal your presence on Facebook by hiding your profile from public search engines. This prevents your content or profile from appearing in search results. Unfortunately there is no way for you to avoid being searchable from Facebook’s own internal search, but there are further steps that can be taken to conceal your identity.
Privacy
Facebook allows users to control who can view content by offering various visibility settings, each with a higher degree of privacy. From the most visible to the most private they are: “Public,” “Friends,” “Friends Except Acquaintances,” and “Only Me.” The Public setting will allow your content to be seen by any Facebook user, while the Friends setting will limit those posts to just those you have accepted friend requests from. Friends Except Acquaintances will allow you to show your posts to only certain friends, while Only Me makes your posts only viewable to you.
Acquaintances and Custom Settings
Labeling friends as “Acquaintances” allows you to use the Friends Except Acquaintances privacy setting effectively. This is useful when you wish to hide certain content from people that you may not fully trust or don’t know very well. Facebook also has a Custom setting, which will allow you to set up a custom group of friends that you’d like to see certain posts (see links in Resources).
References
Writer Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance writer whose work appears on several technology sites as well as on Demand Studios. He has been writing since 2004 and graduated with a degree in Journalism from Temple University.
Gadget Hacks
Mar 29, 2018
7 min read
Between the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the revelation that Facebook logs your phone and text history on Android, many are considering joining the #DeleteFacebook movement. But it can be difficult to leave the site, because so much of its content is only available to active users. If you want to keep in the loop without sacrificing your privacy, you’ll…
- Home
- How-to
- Social Media
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Knowing how to make yourself anonymous on Facebook will help protect your privacy from strangers and annoying acquaintances while still letting you see what your friends are up to.
For example, you could change the name that's displayed in your profile. You can also lock down your privacy settings to prevent other Facebook users from tagging you in photos, adding you as a friend, viewing your profile or sending you messages.
- How to hide Likes on Facebook
- How to change your password on Facebook
- How to stop Facebook sharing your data
This means you can use the social network in relative peace, without constant notifications and without strangers, distant acquaintances or former friends bothering or spying on you.
The catch to changing your name is that the Facebook name policy requires you to use "the name that your friends call you in everyday life." If Facebook detects that you're using a fake name, your account could be suspended or deleted.
However, considering the number of fake profiles on Facebook, plenty of people seem to get away with it, so you may consider using a fake or altered name worth the risk to ensure your anonymity.
Changing your Facebook name is not illegal, but is intended for users who have changed their names due to marriage, divorce, or gender reassignment, and those who have legally changed their names.
With that caveat in mind, here's how to make yourself anonymous by changing your name and privacy settings on Facebook.
How to make yourself anonymous on Facebook: Change your name
1. Click the down arrow in the top-right corner of the Facebook website. Select Settings & privacy, then click Settings in the menu that opens.
(Image credit: Facebook)
2. On the General Account Settings page, click the Edit button next to your name. Here you can type in a pseudonym to use instead of your real name, though as explained above this is technically against Facebook's rules.
If Facebook suspects that you're trying to switch to a fake name, it may reject your request or ask you to provide identification to prove that you've changed your name legally.
On the same page, you can also change the "vanity URL" for your Facebook username to match your new name.
(Image credit: Facebook)
3. Click Review Change to choose how your name will appear in your profile. Enter your Facebook password to confirm and then click Save Changes.
Note that you won't be able to change your name again for 60 days, so don't proceed unless you're sure you want to stick with your new moniker.
(Image credit: Facebook)
4. Next, go to your Profile page and click the camera button on your profile photo to change the picture. After all, why bother changing your name if people can still see your face?
To protect your anonymity, you can upload a photo of a pet, object, landscape or something even more nondescript. You have to use something though.
How to make yourself anonymous on Facebook: Change your privacy settings
1. Go back to Settings on the Facebook website and select the Privacy tab on the left. This section is very important for changing who can see your posts, send you friend requests and how other search engines list your profile.
Change "Who can see your future posts" to "Only Me" and "Who can send you friend requests" to "Friends of friends."
(Image credit: Facebook)
2. Select "Profile and tagging" from the menu on the left. This will prevent other people from tagging you in pictures and places, so your boss can't see what you were up to during last weekend's big party.
Change "Who can post on your profile" and "Who can see posts that you're tagged in on your profile" to "Only me."
(Image credit: Facebook)
3. Finally, select the Blocking tab in the left-hand column. Type the names of Facebook users you want to block into the "Block users" box.
This will help prevent cyberstalking by restricting or entirely blocking specific people from viewing your profile, tagging you, adding you as a friend or messaging you.
You can also block people from contacting you on Facebook Messenger by typing their names into the "Block messages" box. If you change your mind later, just click Unblock.
(Image credit: Facebook)
- More: How to use Facebook Dark Mode on Android, iPhone and desktop
- How to avoid spoilers on social media
- How to block or unfriend someone on Facebook
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Robert Irvine was previously the How-To Editor at Tom's Guide. He has been writing tutorials about software, hardware, websites and other tech topics since the days of dial-up modems, and was previously the editor of Web User magazine. Robert enjoys cooking, and makes a mean sausage casserole, but is definitely not the celebrity chef of the same name.