How to Delete a Post on Facebook

Learn how to hide posts on Facebook too

By
Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau
Freelance Contributor
  • University of Ontario
  • George Brown College
Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire. Her work has appeared on Techvibes, SlashGear, Lifehack and others.
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Updated on December 2, 2020

Anything you post on Facebook on your news feed or Profile remains on your Profile unless you delete it or hide it. However, it's a snap to delete one of your Facebook posts whether you posted it a second ago or five years ago.

You also have some control over the comments you make to your friends' posts; you can delete your comments, but so can they. You cannot delete original posts made by your friends—although you can hide them from your news feed—but you can remove comments they make on one of your posts.

An image of a woman looking at a Facebook page on a laptop.
Pexels

Why Delete a Facebook Post?

There are all sorts of reasons to delete one or several of your Facebook posts. As long as you posted it and you are logged in to the account you used when you posted it, you control its visibility.

You might want to delete a post because:

  • Your feelings changed, or you changed your mind about wanting to share the information you shared.
  • You want to clean up your Timeline by removing unnecessary clutter.
  • The post is now irrelevant or outdated.
  • The post didn't receive much interest or engagement from friends.
  • You accidentally posted something—a status update, a photo, a video, or a link—that you don't want some or all of your friends to see.
  • You received unexpected or unpleasant comments in the comment section of the post and want to put a stop to it.
  • You edited a portion of your profile and don't want to create a post about it automatically.
  • A third-party app auto-posted something, and you don't want it to appear on your Timeline or in your friends' news feeds.
  • You shared a link to a story that turned out to be false or came from an illegitimate source.

You don't have to delete a post on Facebook just because you made a typo or a mistake in it. Instead of removing and reposting it, you can edit the portion of the post that needs correcting or clarification.

How to Delete Your Facebook Posts

No matter your reason, deleting your Facebook posts is simple.

  1. Open Facebook in a web browser or the mobile app. Sign in and locate the Facebook post you want to delete. You might be able to find it in your news feed if you recently posted it. If not, go to your profile by tapping your profile picture or name at the top of the screen and scroll down until you find it.

  2. Select the three dots that appear in the top corner of the post.

    Facebook profile with the three-dot icon next to a post highlighted

  3. Select Delete post from the drop-down list of options.

    Delete post selected in the three-dot icon menu on Facebook

  4. Facebook asks you to confirm your deletion. Select Delete if you want to go ahead.

The post is no longer on your Timeline. You can't undo this deletion.

Use the same three-dot menu option to delete or hide comments you make on other people's posts or comments other people make on your posts.

What You Need to Know About Deleting Facebook Posts

Even if you delete something a second or two after posting it, there's no guarantee that no one saw it.

Likewise, just because you deleted a post from Facebook doesn't mean that it's gone for good. Facebook says that when you delete something, it removes it from the site, but some information might remain on Facebook's servers.

Depending on what you posted, the permanent deletion of all the information associated with that particular post might require you to delete your account. In other words, just because you can no longer see the post on Facebook doesn't mean it's completely gone for good.

How to Hide Your Facebook Posts From Certain People

In some cases, you might post something to Facebook only to realize that you only want some of your friends to be able to see it. Instead of deleting it altogether, you can set a custom filter for who can see it using the visibility options that Facebook offers.

  1. Find the Facebook post you want to hide from certain people, either by locating it in your news feed or on your Timeline.

  2. Select the people icon that appears beside the date or the three dots that appear in the top corner of the post and then select Edit Privacy.

    Facebook post with people icon highlighted next to date

  3. Select who you want to see the post: Public. Friends, Friends except, Specific friends, Only me, Custom, and other options. You might have to scroll down or select More or See All to see additional visibility options.

    Select Privacy window in Facebook

  4. If you select Friends except, Specific friends, or Custom, Facebook brings up a list of your friends and asks you to specify who you do or don't want to include. Select Save Changes when you're done to complete the setup of your visibility option.

You can change the visibility of any existing Facebook posts you made as well as those you are about to post.

Create a custom Facebook friend list to share posts with a specific group of friends. Once created, this list appears in your visibility options when you click More or See All. Creating a custom list takes the work out of having to specify every time you post who you do or don't want to be able to see it.

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