How many people have used the ‘Restricted list’, thinking their newly ‘friended’ boss will not see all of those disparaging comments made about work, only to find out later that Facebook removed those restrictions without permission?
As sites like Reasonstohate.com continue to expose the dangers of posting publicly, Facebook seems to be in a never-ending attempt to reassure the public that they take privacy seriously. In their latest attempt, they’ve taken a page out of Google +’s book and implemented easier to use “lists”, which are similar to circles. Lists allow Facebook users some granular control over their posts, allowing work friends to see work posts, and neighbors to see neighbor posts, and prevent those worlds for colliding with each other. Unfortunately, there’s a major defect in the way one of these lists work.
Adding friends to lists
When you send a person a friend request on Facebook, you’re also given the opportunity to add that person to your lists, at the same time. That means you can invite a person to be your friend, and classify them as a friend, neighbor, or even add them to the restricted list.
What’s the Restricted list?
The Restricted list is a special list created by Facebook. Let’s hear it directly from them:
When you add someone to your Restricted list, they will only be able to see yourPublic content or posts of yours that you tag them in. So if you put your boss on your Restricted list, post a photo and choose Friends as the audience, your boss (and anyone else on Restricted) won’t see that photo. However, if you add a tag of your boss to the photo, we’ll let them know they’re in it. If someone else tries to tag your boss in one of your photos, you’ll get to approve this tag from your pending posts.
What’s the problem?
When you send someone a friend request, you can also add them to multiple lists at the same time. For instance, when I add a neighbor I don’t know real well, I might add them to “Neighbors” and also to “Restricted”. This allows me to be friends with them and see their posts, but they’ll only see a limited amount of my posts instead of some of the more personal posts I’ve made. Unfortunately, as soon as that person accepts my friend request, they’re automatically removed from the Restricted by Facebook. The other groups are left in place, but the Restricted group is removed. This unfortunately means that any new ‘Restricted’ friends have access to my whole Facebook history until I remember to go and re-add them to the Restricted list. Go ahead! Try it.
I’m unsure if this is intentional functionality (If it is, it’s horrifically stupid) or if it’s a software bug. Either way, it’s a major limitation on the Restricted functionality. Facebook touts it as a way to keep private things private, but they automatically remove that barrier under conditions not made clear in their documentation.
How many people have used the Restricted list, thinking their newly added boss will not see all of those disparaging comments made about work?
Yep, luckily I figured this out myself. This is the reason I never add anyone to my friends, and only accept friendship requests.
I want to keep my family members from seeing stuff I post on my wall or what my friends do so I put them on the restricted list… what can they see? How can I be sure they can’t see my posts?
same with me but the restricted list does not work, they still see your posts randomly, I checked with another account, I would love to unfriend them but I do not know if they will see it
The best thing to do which is what I do.. create your own lists and restrictions to them… and that way you dont have to worry about a premade “restriction list” that my or may not work
pleeassee someone help me i’m so confused
okay so you have friend X in restricted
and you have friend Y who is friends with you but not fb friends with friend X
if you comment and like friend X’s picture, will friend Y see this in their newsfeed? like will friend Y see “—— —– commented on friend X’s photo”?
I recently put some people on the restricted list because I didn’t want to kick them from my friends list but I’m tired of them posting stupid arguments on my posts. They can still post to posts on my wall for some reason. I don’t know what to do other than actually kicking them off my friends list. Help!
if what you want is for them to stop commenting on your posts or posting on your wall, you have to change your settings by going to settings (either privacy or account whichever) then on the side you’ll see timeline and tagging, then choose what you want them to not see by clicking edit on either of the settings you chose, custom, then add their name. hope this helps!
If i put someone on a restricted list, would other people be able to see the person on my friends list?!?
Yes they can unless you private your friends list.
I have access to a “friends” page. Meaning, all of the page is on LOCK, however I found a way to view the page. I don’t see much but the cover and profile picture. You are allowed to like or comment on the picture, I think. I haven’t tried but I would like to like the photo and like some of the comments left, because I can see these too. Question is, after I like or comment on anything, will my page be viewable to them? Can they see my page, aside from the usual locked down type of Facebook?
how can i know if someone is put me on restricted list..is there any way apart from seeing no posts on his wall??
yes, click on their photos. you can see their albums like mobile uploads with the number of photos in when you click on it you will not be able to see any of them.
I restrict few of peoples and i was so shocked how come that person could comment and like my status as usual ?? I actually dont wan them to see my daily update but i dont wan to block them ,we were still ‘friend’ on facebook.
If yous have mutual friends & they have liked & commented on your status, Then they will be able to see it.
Can restricted friends comment on cover photo’s?
Yes, They can comment on profile picture & cover photos but they should’nt be able to see any of your status updates but they might be able to see photos youve been tagged in as that goes by who ever putting pics up privacy settings.
unfortunately, my restricted people see my status updates
Every anti-restricted group commenter so far sounds like some teenie bopper boy frustrated that some girl realized omfg this dude is a psycho, and restricted him, lol. If you were blocked already, yay! you did et ^_^
Hi, I think I might have been restricted by a new friend, I can see pretty much everything on the there wall untill a couple of weeks ago. They post generally everyday & like stuff all the time but the most i can see in the last few weeks is a change in cover shot, I just want to know if Ive been restricted, It just bugs me. Why add me if you dont want me to see anything.
Hi, can you still comment on this ‘friend’s’ cover shots or is that blocked too?
I can still comment on the cover.
Anonymous, you got the answer right in your first post. You’ve been added to the poo poo list.
It would be impossible to send you a Friend request if the are Blocked UNLESS….they started themselves a new account…..under the same name….:)
I have a friend who uses fqcebook on her mobile. I confronted her on an issue and now she has restricted me on her page. I asked her about it and she said it was “by accident” and took it off. I queried her on the same topic i confronted her a week later to see if she’d done something about the issue and she restricted me again. This time she said “Sometimes my phone mucks around with my settings and restricts people randomly”. My question is, is this really possible that your phone can do this, that is, click on tabs and make selections on your behalf?? If so I’d be extremely worried that my phone could access my internet banking and empty my account….seems a bit bogus to me……
Deffo bogus, yeah my phone can freeze sometimes & like the odd thing, I didnt mean to. But you would have click on friends & scroll down to restrict someone. So me thinks its deffo bogus…
Definitely sounds bogus, but perhaps you should think about 1) why she’s doing it and 2) why she isn’t comfortable with being straightforward about it. Repeated confrontations are likely to undermine any relationship. Who people choose to share their Facebook data with is entirely their own prerogative.
Hi,
This may have already been answered, but if I have someone on my restricted list (let’s say friend A), and we have a mutual friend (friend B), will friend A be able to see the following info on their newsfeed:
1. If friend B tags me in a post or picture
2. if friend B likes or comments on a post or picture I post?
Hi,
So
Just wondering how to do this:
but i dont want them to see my whole profile. If I put them under Restricted list and other groups don’t matter anymore, how can they see and claim the free gifts for that game that I post? Thanks.
I want to add friends just for the sake of a game, haha (game-addict)
When I go in to restrict someone and their name doesn’t appear under my friends…does this mean I’ve been added to their restricted list??
What if I want someone who is in my restricted list can comment on my public post.. is it possible?
if I put someone on my restricted list….I will call them Friend A….and our mutual friend, Friend B comments on or likes something I post (because they are not on the restricted list and so they can see my stuff) will it show up in Friend A’s ticker (I think it is called) that friend B commented or liked my post or photo if friend B doesn’t have friend A in their restricted list? The ticker is that think on the right hand side that shows all those annoying updates of people current and every move. Since the commenting or liking activity is not my activity on my own post, I’m wondering if it is still visible to friend A in that way, that I made a post that friend B is able to see……
Yes. If I understand what you’re saying , then yes. I have a friend (friend1) on my list who has me on a restricted list(which bugs me immensely, because Idk why and they wont tell me). There is another friend (friend2) on my list who is a mutual friend of ours who is not on the restricted list.Friend2 commented on something that someone else posted and tagged Friend1 in. I cannot see the post directly, but the feed on the right side told me that Friend2 commented on a post Friend1 was tagged in, and I was able to see the post thru the ticker on the right
If I have added a friend to the restricted list and my friend has me marked as a close friend (so they receive notifications when I make a post). Will they still get notifications when I post something?
Hi, I have recently added someone to the restricted list.. I was wondering if they can still see what I post on someone elses wall.. as in a friend in common. I know they cant see what I post but im unsure as to if they can see what I post on a friend in common’s wall.. cant seem to find a clear answer
Im pretty sure they can see your comments and your posts on a friends wall….because when you post on a friends wall…it says under the settings when you post….Your Friend controls his own
settings……….but a restricted friend does not see what you post…..
I have a restricted list for my timeline. It only has one person on it. But I want to take that person off it and let them see my timeline now. Has anyone any idea how I do this. I have searched through everything I can think of and nothing gives me the answer to this. Any help would be appreciated…Thanks.
It’s not hard. Go to their profile. Click on the “Friends” button. When you get the drop-down menu, click on “Add to another list…” It will bring up your lists. Scroll down until you see the “Restricted” list. Click on it to remove the checkmark and they will be removed from the list. You can also go to your privacy settings, select “Blocking” from the menu on the left, and Click on “Edit list” next to the Restricted List option.
I have a question, I blocked a person, but they were able to send me a friend request. How is that even possible?. I was wondering if they have a spyware or hacking tool system to bypass the blocked, , and on top of that they knew my personal email address that I listed on FB, which if I had blocked that person, they should have not been able to go on my information and get my personal email address.
I am thinking when they sent the friend request, is it possible that they hacked in my account ? Does anyone have knowledge of any such programs
I think one of my friends has put me on a restricted list, as when I view their wall I can only see public posts and nothing past a few weeks ago, yet when I look on my iphone I can see everything ?? really confussed and want to just delete this person if they have restricted me but not sure wether its facebook acting the goat!
Hmm… sounds to me like they added you to the restricted list but there is one good way to be sure. Log out of Facebook on both your phone, and the website. Then log in again on both. If you can’t see the other stuff on your phone anymore, and now can only see the public stuff, then yes, you got added to the restricted list.
hi libby well i put some of my friends on restricted list but now i want to change to normal do you know how to do this thanks
Go to their profile. Click on the “Friends” button. When you get the drop-down menu, click on “Add to another list…” It will bring up your lists. Scroll down until you see the “Restricted” list. Click on it to remove the checkmark and they will be removed from the list. You can also go to your privacy settings, select “Blocking” from the menu on the left, and Click on “Edit list” next to the Restricted List option.
Hi, I’m trying to put someone who’s not on my friends list on the restricted list. Basically I don’t want to be a jerk and block him, that would be sending the wrong message… but I do want to not stress over him always (probably) perving my FB page, so I’d like to just make it so if he were to come to my page, he wouldn’t see much at all. I thought I was somewhat computer savvy, but maybe some recent updates left me behind? I try to add him by his name, but just see ‘no results’ in the window where I guess the possible options would be after I start typing in his name. I even tried typing in friends names, but just see ‘no results’, and the window doesn’t do anything. What am I doing wrong?
Second question: When I go to my fb page>tools(little gear thingy)>privacy settings>timeline and tagging tab on the left hand side>review what people see on your timeline> and I click on this, although I’ve changed my settings for friends only, and chosen to see my profile as “public” would see it, I can still see everything… what can I do to basically shut down all information to anyone but friends? I don’t care about the profile pic, just no wall, tags, updates, photos access…??
Thank you!
How do you change your primary e-mail in FB. I went to ‘help’ but I either missed something or it’s not listed as answer.
I want to know if in my friend’s wall I can see only his and mine posts no any other and I can see only notifications of what he puts as likes . Does that mean he put me in a restrict user list??
It’s hard to tell sometimes, isn’t it.
where there is a will there is a way ! no matter what code you come with still it would be crackable. as far this specific feature i wud say that, Yes it dont work the way what we all want. but still some how it works. why to hide !!!
if i make someone restricted on facebook, can they still see my friends list ?? i would realllllllyyy like an answer for this please . (: thanks !
hullo,
I’m pretty sure they can.
Suspect I’m on a restricted list, but can see all their friends.
Good luck.
if i delete a friend form my list will i still be on this list
If i have a friend in on the “high school” list and then I also add him to the “Restricted” list. Will they still see posts if i post to the “high school” list?
James,
Fantastic question. In my testing, it appears they will not. In my opinion, it should work as you’re describing. Restricted: never sees anything, except for when a secondary group they’re in, as explicitly named.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work that way. If they’re in restricted, their additional groups don’t matter.
Correct, if you add someone to Restricted, the other groups do not matter.
The other groups, though, are useful for when you want to catch up with that group. For instance, you can click on High School and view a High School only news feed, which will include any friends who are on your Restricted list.
It’s possible to add someone as a Close Friend so that you get notifications of their updates and also have them on your Restricted list, so they only see public posts.
The only mutually exclusive lists are Acquaintances and Close Friends. If you’re on one, you cannot be on the other.
Wow, this was great. I found out a friend put me on a ‘restricted’ list because of an association I have with another friend. My view, who needs a friend like that. So, I just unfriended her and I don’t I don’t regret it. FB should be used to share ideas, pictures and communicate not to play the petty very high-school-ish games. Respect is a two way street. Thanks again.
Who cares what list they put you on, What does friend mean ?? I consider my dog my friend, Hope i’m not on his restricted list….NOT.
My sentiments exactly. If you’re going to add me, why put on a restricted list? All I can see is exactly what was on your page before you added me: nothing. Quit being immature and either man up and tell me why you feel you need to put me on a restricted list, or just tell me you don’t want to add me for whatever reason. Stop being immature, you’re supposed to be older than me
i restricted some people from seeing ANYTHING on my page. i even changed the setting to “only friends; except restricted” on the part where it says Who Can See What Friends Posts On Your Wall. WELL, false! i went to “view as” as put the restricted person’s name…and they can see ALL the posts that have been made on my wall. WHY??
I have the same issue. I have friends in a list where i’ve restricted many things, and I found out that they still can see what i post. 1) Why is that 2) How do I change the restriction setting of my list ?
Thank you
It’s true and got me into serious troubles. I added friend a stranger, added to restriced list for sure, even without knowing what exactly that meant. Turns out he starts showing me my own friends names and family! I checked it and it was not in the restriced list anymore, I had to manually put it back on! Too late!
This is something really seriously wrong.
I don’t trust any settings on FB. If I have something sensitive, I just message it.
I had a friend that I “blocked….defriended” and I was able to see her post by looking at my friend’s wall and saw one of her revealing comment. I defriended her for political differences before she defriended me she had planned as stated in another post that I found out. , I got to her first before she got me. Feels like anything sensitive to others or may affect you is not a trustworthy safety feature on FB. Just gotta keep it light on FB, just don’t feel trusting as anything can change on FB and you’re caught dead.
Ok guys, everything looks fine if you are the one who makes the restricted lists.
But is there a way to know if someone added you to his restricted list? It’ s easy to understand it if you don’t see any new posts on his wall but, it must be another more “scientific” way!! Otherwise, it’s unfair!!!God!!!
Yeah, there’s one way you can tell that either (1) you’re restricted or (2) you’re not restricted, but there are a lot of recent updates that you don’t have access to:
Go to your friend’s profile with a fast internet connection and see how fast the updates load, and notice the interval between updates.
If the updates take forever to load and you’re seeing there’s a space of days or weeks between updates when you know that person’s updating a lot, then yeah, either (1) or (2) applies to you.
I keep getting 5 fan pages appearing on my “like” list which I never saw before. I delete them off and with in hours they are back. Also when they are on my “like” list my page is very slow and acts kind of buggy. There are things I cannot do like upload pics or change profile info. Then after I remove them it all seems to work again but then they are back within 24 hours. How do I lock them out? All my privacy restrictions are at maximum and each time I clean them out I change my password. What’s up?
G Fahey,
Sounds like you have a malicious app taking over. Look in this list:
https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=applications
That should show you all of the apps you’ve authorized. Remove the ones you aren’t absolutely certain are legitimate and safe. In fact, just remove all of them.
If that doesn’t work, maybe the problem is in your browser. Try using Google Chrome if you’re using Internet Explorer.
I got rid of all apps I did not trust. Still had problems. Some chrome drivers also not working for video and audio. I just downloaded FireFox and un-installed my Chrome. Now everything is working fine.
Thanks. Problem solved.
I’m saddened to think Firefox solved a problem for Chrome. But still, glad you got it resolved.
Yeah I hear ya. I’ll probably re-install Chrome again at some point. I think it was just corrupted.
Thanks again.
I have my friend list set to be private, I’m the only one who can see it. The other day I was having a conversation with this friend of mine who was in a very stalkerish mood and told me she ‘saw’ in some part on her facebook my whole friend list. I told her that can’t be possible cause I have it all private and she assured me that yes indeed she could see it and even told me names. I asked her how did you do that? and she said that it’s like facebook sort of notified her to suggest me friends because I have very few friends. I was shocked and very mad because I felt stalked and of course If I have my friend list private is because I don’t want anyone else to see it. Does anyone else know something about this suggest friends option and how it works? Is there a way someone can see your friend list even though you make it private? Please if someone knows let me know.
I had a similar issue. I deleted a friend; I left some photos they tagged me in. I had friend list set to Private..and this person was still able to see my complete friend’s list, sending me a screenshot. They saw it, until I ‘blocked’ them. That prevented it from that point.
But this is quite weird.
can restricted friends comment?
As of right now (facebook changes all the time), restricted friends can only comment on what they can see.
Thanks. For me, the whole reason to Restrict someone, is to prevent their frequently irritating comments on my stuff. They mean well and I don’t want to de-friend them, or for that matter offend them by making their comment boxes disappear. The truly elegant way for FB to do this would be to make your stuff visible to them on YOUR wall, but NOT in THEIR News Feed. That way they would never get notified of stuff you post, but it would be there for them on your Wall, and they’d never realize you cut them out of the flow. But FB hasn’t done that yet.
If I add someone to my restricted list, will they see when I become friends with other people?
Kat,
That depends on what you’ve set your “wall” or “timeline” to do when you add new friends. To adjust this setting:
1. Go to your Facebook Wall/Timeline
2. Click the “Friends” link just below your Timeline picture.
3. Click the “edit” icon in the far right corner of the friends screen.
You’ll see options for who can see what friends you’ve added.
I have a question regarding restricting a user…. if I restrict a fb friend, I know that person won’t see my posts. my question is, do I see that person’s posts? can’t seem to get an answer anywhere…
Yes, you’ll see anything they post, as long as they haven’t added you to their own restricted list, or some other list used for filtering.
Barbara, did you mean “do I see that person’s posts…on the newsfeed?”
I restricted four of my contacts and what they post doesn’t appear anymore on my newsfeed, however, I’m able to see their posts on their own walls.
So I somehow disagree with what [I'm a Super .com] says, although I think he refers to the wall, not the newsfeed.
If I remember well, I put those contacts on “restricted” because they were posting way too much stuff, mainly rubbish, and that bothered me. But what I don’t really understand is if the restricted list was invented to reduce the visibility of posts that bug your newsfeed OR was it invented to make sure some people don’t see what you post? And if it does both these things, why? I mean, these are very different settings. I wouldn’t mind at all if my “restricted friends” could still see my posts, in fact I’d like them to, but I think they can’t.
Or perhaps there’s just something I don’t get.
Sorry quick question: if one of my friends puts posts something on my wall, adds photos or tags me in a post can my restricted friends see this?
That’s a setting on your Facebook Wall, determining who can see posts left by your friends. Go to your own facebook wall and look for a ‘settings wheel’ in the top right hand of the screen.
As of July 14, 2012, this is still a problem on Facebook! Grr!
I guess the way around this would be to send a message to the person and let them bear the risk of adding. When I approve their friend request, I can select the list they will be on.
That’s really not a bad suggestion. Thanks for validating my concerns. Don’t forget to share this article and warn your friends!
Yep, it is June 2012 and this is still happening. I added a new friend and clicked the “Restricted” list option that appears when you click the “Add Friend” button. When she approved the request, I found she was no longer on the restricted list, so she had free access to everything on my profile, photos, and wall. Luckily it was a person I like and trust! I guess I’m not adding anyone from work until this is resolved. It has to be a bug, but I wonder if people know about it (if they don’t know, they’re not complaining), or if Facebook is ignoring it.
I don’t understand why restricted is even an option. If u are using FB and don’t want a FB ‘friend’ see something you have posted UNFRIEND them. Restricted is obnoxious for the simple reason it doesn’t restrict both ways automatically. This allows stalkers to still stalk even though they restrict you! I am on a restricted list by a friend of 25 years because we had a disagreement 12 mths ago – ridiculous I know in that it is still lingering. Yet I haven’t restricted anyone on FB. She is a notorious FB stalker updating upwards of 10 times a day liking everyone’s comments including her own and changing her profile pic each day. I don’t care it’s her FB to do with what she wants. I update maybe once every few days and have had same profile pic for two years – I think she is obnoxious for the fact she restricted not only myself her oldest friend, my husband and our communal friends. She lives os and has limited contact with them and maybe our outings bothered her??! I am Unfriending her because if she doesn’t want me to see her stuff then why the hell should she be privy to mine – i have let it go on for over 12 months but its enough now. I refuse to restrict it is juvenile and completely unnecessary. Block those you don’t like and friend those you do!! It’s FB for goodness sake isn’t it meant to be fun???
An excellent point. While I didn’t write the article to highlight all the pitfalls of the “feature”, I agree with you.
On that note, the Google Plus is an excellent service built on privacy and sharing. I highly recommend it as an alternative to Facebook. I use it regularly.