Question from Tammy: I don’t like it when people who aren’t friends with me on Facebook comment on my posts and sort of take them over.
Is there any way to prevent people I’m not friends with from leaving comments on my posts?
Rick’s answer: Hi, Tammy. As far as I know there’s no way to stop non-friends from commenting on your posts directly, but you can definitely prevent them from seeing your posts in the first place.
And if they can’t see your posts, they obviously can’t comment on them either.
Here’s how to change your Facebook settings to ensure that only your friends can see and leave comments on your posts. Just follow the steps below for the device you’re using.
If you’re using Facebook in a web browser on a laptop or desktop computer:
1 – Click the down arrow at the right side of the blue bar near the top of the screen.
2 – Click Settings & Privacy.
3 – Click Settings.
4 – Click the Privacy link over in the left-hand column.
5 – Click Who can see your future posts?
6 – You’ll see a box containing a button with a label and a “down arrow” on it. Click the down arrow and select Friends.
7 – (Optional) – The change you made above will only prevent non-friends from seeing (and commenting on) the posts/photos that you put on Facebook from this point forward.
You have the option of making this change retroactive to hide your existing posts from non-friends as well. Simply click the Limit Past Posts link, then click Limit Old Posts.
8 – Click the Home link in the upper right-hand corner to return to your Newsfeed.
If you’re the Facebook app on a mobile device:
Note: There’s an entry in the Settings screens in the Facebook mobile app labeled “Who can see your future posts?” but it doesn’t really do anything. It basically just shows you what you already have your default audience set at.
Therefore, you can’t use that entry to set the default audience of your future posts to “Friends”. Instead you must select Friends for the audience for new posts as you are writing them.
Luckily, once you select Friends for the audience of one post that choice of “Friends” will remain the default for all subsequent posts.
However, there is indeed a setting for limiting the audience of your past posts to your Friends. Just follow the steps below…
1 – Tap the Menu icon in the upper-right corner of the screen (it looks like three horizontal lines).
2 – Tap Settings & Privacy.
3 – Tap Settings.
4 – Scroll down to the “Audience and Visibility” section and tap Limit who can see past posts.
5 – Tap Limit Past Posts.
That’s all there is to it. From now on only people who are on your Friends List will be able to see your posts and leave comments on them.
I hope this helps, Tammy. Good luck!