How to Stop Appearing in People You May Know on Facebook

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Prevent your profile from being recommended to others
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Do you want to keep your Facebook profile a little more private and avoid random friend requests? Facebook may show you to people you may know so they can add you as a friend, but there are ways to up your privacy so you’re less likely to appear. Keep reading, and we’ll walk through how to stop appearing as a suggested friend by blocking people and how to limit how often you’re suggested. We’ll also cover how to update your privacy settings for your FB profile is more secure.

How to Not Show Up on Suggested Friends

The only way to completely remove yourself from someone’s suggested friends or People You May Know section is by blocking them individually. You can limit how often you appear in the section by adjusting your email and phone number privacy settings, deleting uploaded contacts, and removing basic info from your profile.

Section 1 of 5:

How to Stop Appearing in Suggested Friends

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  1. Block specific people so you don’t appear in their People You May Know.
    If you are worried about appearing as a suggested friend for a specific person, visit their profile and click on the 3 horizontal dots near the top-right side of their page. Then, select Block from the drop-down menu. Click Confirm when the new window appears.[1]
    • Blocking someone prevents them from seeing your profile and posts, and they won’t be able to add you as a friend. You also won’t see anything they post or see them appear in the People You May Know section on your feed.
    • If you ever want to see the people you have blocked, click on your profile picture and then select Settings & Privacy > Settings > Audience and visibility > Blocking, and then click Edit under the “Block profiles and pages” option.[2]
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Section 2 of 5:

What determines if you appear as a suggested friend?

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  1. Step 1 Mutual friends or groups
    When Facebook sees that you and another person share a mutual friend or have joined the same group, Facebook assumes you might also know each other in real life and will include you in a People You May Know section. This also may appear if you and the other person were tagged in a photo together.[3]
  2. Step 2 Similar profile information
    Facebook looks at the information you list for work, schools, and where you’re living to see if it can connect you with other people you know. If you have the same info listed as someone else, FB may suggest you as a friend to them.[4]
  3. Step 3 Uploading your contacts to Facebook
    Uploading your contacts to Facebook is a great way to find friends who have their phone numbers linked to their profile. If other people upload your phone number or email address, they may see you as a friend suggestion on their feed and you’ll see them on your feed.[5]
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Section 3 of 5:

Limit How Often You Appear in People You May Know

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  1. Step 1 Set your email and phone number suggestions to “No one.”
    People who have your email address or phone number uploaded to Facebook may see you as a suggested friend, but you can limit who can discover you with the information.[6]
    • Tap on your profile picture in the top right corner, and then select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
      • On mobile, click Menu in the bottom right and then tap the gear icon at the top of the screen.
    • Tap on How people find and contact you under the Audience and Visibility section.
    • Select People with your email address or People with your phone number.
    • Change the selections to No one so your profile isn’t suggested.
  2. Step 2 Delete your uploaded contacts from Facebook.
    Go to the Contacts manager page to see all the information that you’ve uploaded to Facebook. Click on the Delete All button to remove the contacts so they’re less likely to get you as a suggested friend.[7]
    • If you have contact uploading turned on, turn it off to prevent the contacts from appearing again. Go to Menu > Settings & Privacy > Settings > Accounts Center > Your information and permissions > Upload contacts. Select your Facebook account and select Continuous contacts upload to switch the setting off.[8]
  3. Step 3 Limit how much personal information you put in your profile.
    Because the People You May Know section uses your basic info to find similar people, it may help to remove some of it from your page. Consider deleting any schools, workplaces, or current cities you have listed in your About section so you’re less likely to appear.
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Section 4 of 5:

Remove People You May Know from Facebook

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  1. Step 1 Click “Remove” or the X icon to remove individual suggested friends.
    If you’re browsing on a computer and see a suggested friend you don’t know or want to get rid of, click on the X to remove them from the list. On mobile, click the Remove button under their profile picture instead.
  2. Step 2 Select the Hide option to disable People You May Know temporarily.
    If you want to disable friend suggestions in your news feed, tap on the 3 dots in the top-left corner of the section. Then, select Hide People You May Know so it appears less frequently while you’re browsing.[9]
    • Keep in mind that you cannot permanently turn off the People You May Know feature, so it will reappear in your feed eventually.
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Section 5 of 5:

Change Privacy Settings for Your Profile

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  1. Step 1 Change the visibility of your posts to friends only.
    If you don’t want the public to see the posts you’re making on FB, you can limit it to just include people who are already in your friends list. That way, only the people who know you can see what you’ve put on your page.[10]
    • Tap on your profile picture in the top-right corner.
    • Select Settings & Privacy.
    • Tap on Settings with the gear icon.
    • Click on Posts under the Audience and Visibility heading.
    • Under Who can see your future posts?, change the selection to Friends.
    • Select Limit past posts to switch the privacy on all the posts on your profile.
  2. Step 2 Hide your friends list from the public.
    By default, anyone who goes on your profile can see all the people in your friends list. If you want to keep who you know private, you can limit the setting so that only other friends or only you can see it.[11]
    • Tap on your profile picture in the top-right corner.
    • Select Settings & Privacy.
    • Click on Settings.
    • Scroll down to Audience and visibility and select How people find and contact you.
    • Select Who can see your friends list?
    • Change the selection to Friends or Only me.
  3. Step 3 Change friend request settings to only Friends of Friends.
    Anyone with a Facebook account can send you a friend request by default. If you don’t want strangers requesting you as a friend, then you can change it to people you have a connection with.[12]
    • Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner.
    • Choose Settings & Privacy.
    • Tap on Settings.
    • Find Audience and visibility in the menu and select How people find and contact you.
    • Select Who can send you friend requests?
    • Change the selection to Friends of Friends.
  4. Step 4 Disable your profile from appearing on search engines.
    If someone searches your name online, they may find your Facebook profile in the results. However, you can limit this so your profile can only be found through Facebook.[13]
    • Tap on your profile picture in the top-right corner.
    • Select Settings & Privacy.
    • Click Settings.
    • Under Audience and visibility, select How people find and contact you.
    • Toggle the selection for Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?
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  • Even if you don’t appear in the People You May Know section on someone’s feed, they may still be able to find your profile if they search for your name (unless they’re blocked).
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References

  1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/1000976436606344/
  2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/471563593459787/?helpref=uf_share
  3. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/1059270337766380?helpref=faq_content
  4. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/1059270337766380?helpref=faq_content
  5. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/1059270337766380?helpref=faq_content
  6. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/131297846947406/
  7. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/147699975301738/
  8. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/355489824655936?helpref=faq_content
  9. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/1766414223489443/
  1. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/233739099984085?helpref=faq_content
  2. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/115450405225661/
  3. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/217125868312360/
  4. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/help/124518907626945

About This Article

Hunter Rising
Written by:
Hunter Rising
wikiHow Staff Writer
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Hunter Rising. Hunter Rising is a wikiHow Staff Writer based in Los Angeles. He has more than three years of experience writing for and working with wikiHow. Hunter holds a BFA in Entertainment Design from the University of Wisconsin - Stout and a Minor in English Writing. This article has been viewed 316,109 times.
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Co-authors: 5
Updated: August 19, 2025
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Categories: Facebook Privacy and Safety
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