What happens when you restrict someone on Facebook? (2023 Guide)

Do you want to restrict someone on Facebook? Here is what happens when you restrict someone on Facebook.

You will agree with me that the traditional method of hiding individual posts from someone so they can’t see them on Facebook is time-consuming. This is because you must change the privacy setting each time you post. And you’ll be wondering whether or not you made the change. That is so much work! Instead, to successfully hide your posts from some persons on Facebook, you can place them on the Restricted list to make things easier.

Facebook Restricted List

Your Restricted list on Facebook is for people you’ve added as a friend but may not want to share with (for example, your boss, parents or just anybody…).

When you add someone to your Restricted list, you’ll still be friends on Facebook, but they’ll only be able to view your public information (e.g., posts and profile information that you choose to make public) and posts you tag them in.

How Does the Facebook Restricted List Work?

This is how it works: If you add your boss to the Restricted list and then post something on Facebook with Friends as the audience, your boss will not see it.

You do not need to adjust the audience when posting; the Restricted list will take care of it.

However, if you post something with the privacy setting set to Public or tag your boss in an official photo, your boss will see it.

In general, when you add someone to your restricted list on Facebook, they won’t be able to see and access your posts unless you tag them or set the post’s privacy to Public.

I hope you now understand what happens when you restrict someone on Facebook.

What happens when you restrict someone on Facebook? | What will people on your restricted list see when you share posts?

If you’re friends with your work supervisor on Facebook, for example, and you add them to your Restricted list:
And then, you choose “Public” as the audience for your post; your supervisor will be able to see it. But if you choose “Friends” as the audience for your post, your supervisor won’t see it.

If you tag your supervisor in a post or photo, he will be able to see it.

If your boss goes to your profile, they won’t be able to see anything that you haven’t tagged them in or shared as a public post.

That is how it works. That is what happens when you restrict someone on Facebook.

How to add someone to your restricted list on Facebook

Adding someone to your restricted list on Facebook is super easy. Just a few clicks, and you are done.

Follow the process below to add someone to your Restricted list on Facebook:

Log in to your Facebook account.
Go to the person’s profile (who you want to add to your restricted list on Facebook).
Click the image icon at the top of their profile.
Select Edit friend list from the options that appear.
Select Restricted.
That is it! You have successfully restricted that friend.
Follow the procedure to restrict yet another of your Facebook friend.

How to view and edit your restricted list on Facebook

You may be wondering how to view and edit your restricted list on Facebook. The process is simple.

Below is how.

To view or edit your Facebook Restricted list:

Log in to your Facebook account or open the Facebook app.
From your Feed, click Friends in the left menu. If you can’t see it, click See more.
Click Custom lists…
Then click Restricted to view the list of your Facebook friends that are confined.
To remove someone from the list, click the X (cancel) icon next to their name.

How to Choose who can see your post on Facebook

Restricting someone on Facebook gives you an opportunity to set your privacy and choose who sees what on your Facebook profile.

It is a good thing that you can choose who can see your post on Facebook. This is possible with the Facebook audience selector.

The audience selector can be found in most places where you share content on Facebook, such as posts, photos and some information on your profile.

How to choose who you share content with and can view your content on Facebook

Use the steps below to choose who you share content with on Facebook:

Log in to your Facebook account or open the Facebook app.
At the top of your Feed or profile, click What’s on your mind? From here, you can do things such as post a status update, photo, or video or check in to an event.
Below your name, click the audience selector (e.g., Friends).
Click the audience you’d like to see your content (e.g., Friends, the Public or Only me).

Note:

When sharing on Facebook, bear in mind that:

The audience selector will also appear on previously shared content, allowing you to see who you’ve shared each post with. After you’ve shared a post, you can change who it’s shared with.
Some things that you share on Facebook will always be public. For example, when you post or comment in a public group, your post or comment will be public and can be seen by anyone.
When you create a reel or add to your story, different audience selections apply.
If you choose a new audience for your post, you’ll only change the audience for that specific post. The next time you post, the audience will go back to the default audience that you selected in your privacy settings.
When you change the audience on one device, the audience will update on all devices. For example, if you change the audience of your post on your computer, it will also change the audience of your post in your app.
Your post will appear in your Feed, on your profile and in search results.
When you post to another person’s profile, that person controls who can see the post.
When you post, people in the audience may be able to see it across the Meta Products.
If you tag someone in a post, the tagged person’s friends may also see the post.
If you’ve chosen to lock your profile, your sharing choices are more restricted.

Other ways to manage who can see your content on Facebook

In addition to the strategies discussed above, here are other ways to manage who can see your content on Facebook/

Review and update your privacy settings for your profile.
Limit who can see your past posts.
Go to your activity log to review your posts and things you’ve been tagged in.
Visit your Profile and tagging settings to manage things such as who can see what other people post on your profile and review who can see the content you’re tagged in.
Edit basic info on your Facebook profile and choose who can see it.

I hope it’s getting clearer on how to manage your content on Facebook and that you now know what happens when you restrict someone on Facebook.

How to unfriend or remove a friend on Facebook

Sometimes, you need more than just restricting someone on Facebook. You may need to remove a friend (unfriend someone) on Facebook.

If that is what you want to do, here is how to successfully go about it:

To unfriend someone’s profile:

Log in to Facebook.
Quickly go to that profile by typing their profile name into the search bar at the top of Facebook.
Click the image icon at the top of their profile.
Click Unfriend.
Then Confirm.

With that, you have successfully removed someone from your friend list on Facebook.

Note: If you can’t find the profile you want to unfriend, the profile may have been deactivated.

So, how do you unfriend a deactivated profile?

How to unfriend a deactivated profile

Follow the procedure below to unfriend a deactivated profile:

Log in to Facebook.
Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
Click Friends.
Search for the profile’s name.
Click More.
Then select Unfriend.
You’re done. Congratulations.

You can rest assured that the profile that you unfriended won’t be notified by Facebook.

Note: If you unfriend someone on Facebook, you’ll also be removed from that profile’s friends list. If you want to be friends with that person again, you’ll need to add them as a friend again.

Now, if you don’t want someone to see your profile, add you as a friend or send you a message, you can block their profile on Facebook.

How to Block Someone on Facebook

When you block a Facebook profile, that profile will no longer be able to tag you or view what you post on your timeline.

If you block a friend’s profile, it will be unfriended from your profile.

Here’s how to block someone’s profile on Facebook:

Log in to Facebook.
Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
Select Settings & Privacy
Then click on Settings.
Click Blocking in the menu on the left-hand side.
In the Block users section, enter the name of the profile you want to block and click Block.
Select the specific profile you want to block from the list that appears and click Block, then click Block [name].

Note: If you can’t find someone’s profile using this method, try going to their Facebook profile and selecting Block from the … menu in the bottom right of the cover photo.

Bear in mind that when you unblock someone’s profile, you won’t automatically be friends again. If you block a profile that you’re friends with and then unblock it, you’ll need to send that profile a new friend request.

Must Read: How to See My Blocked List on Facebook

Restrict Vs. Block on Facebook: Which Privacy Setting Should You Use?

Blocking someone on Facebook allows you to avoid all kinds of communication with them. Block on Facebook is not limited to just communication. Both sides are blind to each other’s existence. To put it another way, it’s as if the other person doesn’t exist on Facebook.

Restricting someone on Facebook is different. We know that to restrict someone, you have successfully added them to the Restricted list. And until you set the privacy option to Public or tag them, they won’t be able to see your posts. It’s a milder version of blocking someone without informing them.

When you add someone to the Restricted list, you keep your Facebook friendship. However, blocking someone makes you unfriend them. You will both be deleted from each other’s friend list.

When you block someone, you cannot tag them, and neither can they tag you. In the case of the Restricted list, though, you can both tag each other. When you tag someone, they will see the post even if the privacy setting is set to Friends.

If you restrict someone on Facebook, you can still message each other. Not so when it comes to blocking someone. Both lose the ability to message one another. However, there is one exception. You’ll still see each other in common group chats on Messenger. And the previous conversation thread will remain in Messenger. Nothing changes in terms of messaging for the Restricted list. Both of you can still message each other normally.

Finally, Facebook groups are unaffected when you block or restrict someone. That is, you can still see each other’s posts in the common groups. However, if you block someone, you cannot click or tap on their profile since their name will display black rather than blue.

I do hope it’s now very clear what happens when you restrict someone on Facebook and what happens when you block someone on Facebook!

Will other people know you restrict or block them?

Now to a very serious matter, will the other person know you restrict or block him on Facebook? Not really.

While the other person is not informed in either situation, they may suspect something is wrong.

Your profile will be hidden from their view if you block them. They may believe you’ve deactivated your account. But if they ask someone else to look at your profile, read their messages and communications in common groups, or use other methods to figure out who blocked them, your secret will be revealed.

In the case of restriction, unless the person is close to you, it is slightly tough to know. This is because someone else may not realize they aren’t seeing your posts. Only those close to you will notice anything unusual.

If they ask a mutual friend to examine your recent postings, the secret that you have hidden the posts from them will be revealed. However, there is no straightforward way to determine whether or not you have been restricted. Unless the individual tells you.

That is what happens when you restrict someone on Facebook and how it is difficult for them to know they have been added to your restricted list.

If you ask me, I will say that restricting someone on Facebook is better than outright blocking!

Is restricting or blocking someone permanent?

You may want to know if restricting or blocking someone on Facebook is permanent.

Yes. Unlike Snooze, which is only active for 30 days, both block and restrict modes are active until you actively disable them.

What happens when you unblock and remove from the restricted list?

When you unblock someone, one of you will have to send a friend request to stay friends on Facebook because the block unfriends you. Things will return to normal if approved. However, if you do not add it or the person rejects it, you will only view postings that are set to Public. You will be unable to post on their wall or read their stories.

Removing someone from the Restricted list allows them to see your regular posts and stories again, even if they are shared with Friends only as the audience. When you restrict a person, other things stay unaffected and continue to function regularly.

But, instead of blocking or restricting a friend, one can choose to take a break.

Here is how it works.

Take a break a Facebook – What happens when you restrict someone on Facebook?

Take a break from a profile on Facebook who you want to see less of.

When you change your relationship status on Facebook to single, divorced, or leave it blank, you can take a break from someone’s profile.
You can also take a break from a Facebook profile with whom you are friends.

Advantages of taking a break on Facebook

You’ll be able to do the following when you take a break:

1. See less of someone’s profile

Limit where you can see someone’s Facebook profile. If you opt to see them less, their posts and those in which they are tagged will no longer appear in your Feed, and you will no longer be encouraged to message them or tag them in photos or videos. To see their posts again, you can follow them.

2. Limit the ability of a profile to see your posts and those in which you are tagged

Hide your posts from the profile from which you want to take a break. They’ll be added to your Restricted list and will only see posts that you tag or share publicly with them.

3. Change who can see your previous posts

Limit who may see your posts, which may include pictures, status updates, videos, and other media. You can limit posts in which you are tagged or in which you have tagged someone else by altering your privacy settings.

These posts are only visible to the profiles that have been tagged in them. These postings will no longer appear on your timeline. Still, they will continue to appear on the timelines and search results of other accounts unless the original poster removes the information.

4. You’ll also be removed as a contributor from any shared albums with the profile that you want to take a break from.

If you’re looking for other ways to take a break from someone, you can change your profile picture or archive your message thread with their profile.

Bear in mind that you can always block or unfriend someone’s profile on Facebook. In this way, your privacy is protected.

I do hope this article is helpful. And also, I hope you now have all the information on what happens when you restrict someone on Facebook. If you have any questions, please ask us using the comment section below. You can also share your views about this article. Thank you.

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