Find Out if You Have Been Restricted on Facebook
This article teaches you how to recognize the signs that a Facebook friend has restricted the amount of personal information you can see on their profile. The "Restricted" list is different from the "Blocked" list in that restricted users can still view public posts and posts on mutual friends' pages from the person who blocked them.
Contents
Steps
- Visit your friend's profile. If asking your friend point-blank about the issue isn't an option, visiting their Facebook profile is the next best thing.
- Look for empty space at the top of their profile. This is usually indicative of a gap between private posts and public posts. If you've been restricted, you won't be able to see the private posts, hence the space here.
- Depending on when your friend made their public posts, you might not see a gap here even if you have been restricted.
- See if their posts are all public. These will likely appear below the empty space if there is any. If there's a "Public" globe to the right of every post's timestamp, you know that you aren't seeing their private posts.
- This doesn't necessarily mean they've restricted you--they may have simply decided to post only public items.
- Look for a sudden lack of content. Not being able to see photos or other content that you could before might mean you've been restricted.
- It also might mean that your friend simply deleted their posts.
- Ask a mutual friend to look at your friend's Timeline. Even if you can't see private posts or their old photos, your friend may have just deleted their old information and locked down their account to retain privacy from all of their Facebook friends (not just you). You can verify this by having a mutual friend look at your friend's Timeline and tell you if they see anything that you don't.
- Even just asking them if your friend has posted recently when you can't see any account activity from the past month or so will accomplish this goal.
- Ask your friend if they restricted you. There is always a possibility that the action was performed in error, since the "Restricted" list is in close proximity to the custom list section.
Tips
- If you've been restricted by Facebook itself, you won't be able to log into your account. You can Contact-Facebook if you feel as though you've been restricted in error.
Warnings
- Don't push your friend for information about the restriction if it turns out they did restrict you.
