Tips to Protect your Facebook and Instagram Accounts

Update May 2, 2024: Beginning May 2024, Facebook Protect is changing to Advanced Protection. We recently introduced additional improvements to Advanced Protection including how to enroll and region-specific updates. Visit the Help Center for full details on the changes.

Facebook and Instagram profiles, including those of public figures, may be targeted to gain access to contacts and sensitive information. If your profile is compromised, you could lose access to the Pages and Groups that you manage as well. It’s important for you to take steps to protect your information and your presence on our platforms. The following tips and tools can help you protect your Facebook and Instagram account from threats and keep them secure.

Secure your account

It’s essential to have a strong, unique password that differs from your other online accounts. Avoid including your name or common words. Your password should be difficult to guess and should be changed periodically.

Two-factor authentication is a security mechanism that requires you to enter a specific code or confirm your login attempt when someone tries to access your account from an unrecognized browser window. Enabling two-factor authentication prevents the vast majority of account compromises.

Instagram: How to strengthen the security of your account so no one has access who shouldn't.

Make sure that the email address you use to log in is up to date in your Facebook Settings in case you ever need to request a password reset. If your account is compromised and you no longer have access to the inbox of the email address you use to sign into Facebook, you will be unable to receive a password reset link.

Instagram: Steps to recover your Instagram password and your hacked account

Ensure account privacy

In addition to keeping your account secure, you can control the visibility of your interactions. If you don’t want a specific person to see your profile, add you as a friend, or send you a message, you can block them. Accounts that face additional threats to privacy during a campaign cycle can also use Facebook Protect to monitor these specific threats.

Whenever you update your status, share photos, or post anything on Facebook, you can select who sees what you share by using the “Audience Selector” tool. You can choose to share with everyone, just your friends, or even a customized audience.

Instagram: Learn how to control your visibility and block settings to keep your account safe from unwanted behavior and harassment.

Prevent phishing attempts

Phishing is when someone tries to get access to your Facebook or Instagram account by sending you a suspicious message or link asking for personal information. Emails from Facebook about your account always come from @fb.com, @facebook.com or @facebookmail.com. Emails from Instagram about your account always come from @support.facebook.com, @support.instagram.com, @mail.instagram.com. Meta will never contact you on Messenger regarding your Meta accounts.

We strongly advise that you cross-reference any support emails or messages you receive about your Facebook and Instagram accounts in your account settings before actioning on them. For Facebook, you can review all recent emails we’ve sent you from a list in your Security and Login settings. For Instagram, you can view official emails sent within the last 14 days from your Settings. Never type your login information anywhere except when logging into your account.

Security and Privacy Checkups

Use the security checkup to log out of unused devices, set up login alerts about unrecognized logins, and review your current active sessions on Facebook. Additionally, use our privacy checkup to view and change friends or followers.

You can also view “Where You’re Logged In” for a list of browsers and devices that have been used to log in to your Facebook account recently. To confirm that you have logged out of the browsers or devices listed, click on “End Activity.” These are important steps for you to take steps to protect your information and your presence on Facebook.

Apps and websites that you log into with Instagram or connect to your Instagram account can be active, removed or expired from your account based on the state they’re in and how often you use them. Learn how you can manage your privacy settings and how to access your data on Instagram.

We encourage you to adopt the recommendations above on your personal profile accounts, which will also help keep the Pages and Groups that you manage secure.

For more information, download this guide.

For more information on Instagram, visit our Instagram Safety Hub.