Facebook allows users to share a large amount of personal information, including their date of birth. While this can be useful for friends and family to remember special occasions, it also exposes sensitive information to anyone who can view your profile. If you want to limit who can see your birthday on Facebook, there are a few options available.
Adjust Privacy Settings
The easiest way to control who can view your birthday on Facebook is to adjust your privacy settings. You can choose to share your birthday with friends only, friends of friends, or keep it private so that only you can see it. Here’s how to update the privacy settings for your birthday on Facebook:
- Click the arrow in the top right corner and select “Settings”.
- On the left sidebar, click “Privacy”.
- Click “Edit” next to “Birthday”.
- Choose your preferred audience for who can see your birthday by clicking one of the options: Friends, Friends except acquaintances, Only me, or Custom.
- If you choose Custom, you can specifically exclude people from seeing your birthday.
- Click “Save Changes”.
By adjusting these settings, you can limit your birthday visibility to only people you are comfortable with seeing that information.
Remove Your Birthday Entirely
If you want to remove your birthday from Facebook altogether, you can delete it from your profile. Here’s how:
- Click the arrow in the top right corner and select “Settings”.
- On the left sidebar, click “General”.
- Click “Edit” next to “Birthday”.
- Delete the date entered in the birthday field.
- Click “Save Changes”.
Once you remove your birthday, it will no longer be visible on your profile to anyone. However, Facebook may still show your zodiac sign and age range even without the specific birthday displayed.
Restrict Old Posts Mentioning Your Birthday
Simply removing your birthday from your profile won’t erase old posts and Timeline messages where friends have tagged you or mentioned your birthday. To limit visibility of these old posts:
- Click on your profile picture and view your timeline.
- Click the three dots above any post mentioning your birthday and select “Edit post privacy”.
- Change the audience to “Only me” so only you can see it.
- Click “Confirm” to save the new privacy setting.
- Repeat this for any other old posts that mention your birthday.
Doing this helps restrict access to posts that may reveal your exact date of birth.
Review Tagging Suggestions
Facebook automatically scans posts where you are tagged to determine things like your birthday based on what friends write. You can prevent Facebook from gathering this info:
- Go to “Settings” then “Privacy”.
- Click on “Face Recognition”.
- Toggle off “Allow Facebook to suggest tags with facial recognition”.
This stops Facebook from automatically tagging you based on facial recognition and potentially picking up birthday references from old posts.
Block Facebook Ads Using Your Birthday
Facebook uses information like your birthday to show you targeted ads. If you want to stop ads using your birthday:
- Click the arrow in the top right and go to “Settings”.
- Under “Privacy”, click on “Ad preferences”.
- Click “Ad settings”.
- Toggle off “Use precise location, birthday, relationship status for ads”.
Doing this prevents advertisers from seeing your birthday and using it to serve you birthday-related ads.
Use a Fake Birthday
If you still want your birthday displayed on your profile, but don’t want your real date visible, you can enter a fake date instead. Here’s how to change your listed birthday on Facebook:
- Go to your profile and click “About”.
- Click the pencil icon next to your birthday.
- Change the date to a fake birthday.
- Click “Save Changes”.
Now your profile will display your fake birthday instead of the real one. This allows you to still celebrate your birthday and get well-wishes without revealing your true date of birth.
Conclusion
There are a few different options for controlling who can see your birthday on Facebook depending on your specific privacy needs. Adjusting privacy settings, removing your birthday altogether, restricting old posts about your birthday, and using a fake birthday are all ways to limit exposure of your real date of birth. Taking the time to check your privacy and security settings can help you feel more in control of sensitive information.
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Adjust Privacy Settings | – Can share with some people – Don’t have to remove birthday entirely |
– Still partially visible |
| Remove Birthday | – Completely hidden | – Can’t share with anyone |
| Restrict Old Posts | – Limits past exposure | – Time consuming to edit all posts |
| Block Targeted Ads | – Stops advertisers from using info | – Doesn’t change profile visibility |
| Use Fake Birthday | – Can still celebrate on Facebook – Hides real date |
– Have to remember to use fake date |
Key Takeaways
- Adjust privacy settings to share birthday only with certain friends or connections.
- Delete your birthday from your profile to remove it completely.
- Change visibility of old posts and tags that mention your birthday.
- Block targeted advertising using your birthday data.
- Use a fake birthday on your profile to share a different date.
There are many options to take control of your birthday visibility and privacy on Facebook. Consider your specific needs and preferences to determine the best approach, whether it’s sharing with only close friends, removing it entirely, or displaying a fake date. With a few adjustments to settings and some extra caution when posting, you can keep your real date of birth private.