How To Avoid A Facebook Photo Tagging Disaster

How can you enable your friends to see your tagged photos while at the same time preventing news feed stories which alert your friends to compromising photos before you’ve deleted them? In our new Facebook privacy guide published earlier this week, we suggested that users block tagged photos completely as to avoid the accidental photo tag disaster. There is an alternative setting however that will provide you with protection while at the same time allow you to share your personal photos with friends.

-Drunk Photo Tag-

Rather than blocking your friends from viewing photos you’ve been tagged in (as described here), it’s possible to prevent the Facebook photos application from publishing feed stories about you. I have my own personal story about friends who were alerted to a new photo I was tagged in via their feed. Ultimately, I didn’t have a chance to view the image before multiple people had photos of me drunk at an event in college.

It wasn’t a complete disaster but it was somewhat embarrassing and I’ve heard of instances where people have been outright fired or have lost a job opportunity as a result of photos of them in compromising settings. So here’s how to keep your friends seeing photos you’ve been tagged in, while preventing stories that alert your friends to new photos you’ve been tagged in.

Step 1: Properly Configure Your Photo & Video Privacy Settings

There are a number of ways to configure your photo & video privacy settings, however there is a semi-private configuration which should protect you while enabling your close friends to see things you’ve been tagged in. Head over to the Profile Information privacy page and scroll down to the section which says “Photos and Videos of Me”. You can then configure your settings as pictured below. Select “Customize” from the drop down menu and then next to people who can view your photos select “Only Friends”.

You can then individually remove those friends who you don’t want to see your tagged photos at all. You can use Friend Lists (as described in our new Facebook privacy guide) or individually enter any professional contacts and other people you’d like to block from viewing your tagged photos. This way you ensure that nobody important to your professional life can see tagged photos at all.

-Semi Private Photos-

Step 2: Block Facebook Photos From Generating Feed Stories

Now that you have the privacy settings configured, you still may want to prevent news feed stories from showing up before you’ve had the opportunity to filter out any compromising images. Head over to the application settings page and select from the drop down “Allowed to Post”. You can then scroll down to the “Photos” application and click on “Edit Settings” as pictured in the image below.

Next up, click on on the “Additional Permissions” tab and uncheck the box next to “Publish to streams”. By unchecking this box, you are effectively blocking the Photos applications from displaying any tagged photos in your friends’ news feeds. You can see a screenshot of the configuration below. After save the setting you are done, with preventing a photo tagging disaster. If you want to block video tags from showing up as well, you can scroll down next to the “Video” application on the same page and repeat the process.

-Block Photo Publishing-

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926154 Comments2009-12-17+17%3A11%3A07Nick+O%27Neill »

It would give me a lot more privacy if I could have the option to approve tagged photos. I hate it when I'm tagged in a picture that looks horrible, not only because the photo makes me look stupid, but if I untag it, I look stupid as well.

Comment by George — December 17, 2009 @ 9:34 am
Question: won't Step 2 also block photos posted by me? Example: When creating a new photo album, I like to have that "announced" in a wall news feed, for friends to check out. The unchecked "Publish to streams" photo settings will prevent such new photo albums posted by me to show up on wall feeds no?

Comment by Marie Frechon — December 17, 2009 @ 9:40 am
Thanks! This is a great way to keep those embarrassing photos out of your boss' newsfeed.

Comment by Facebook User — December 17, 2009 @ 10:25 am
Chances are you won't look stupid unless you really are but there's no reason to let the world see. I agree.

Comment by Recruiting Animal — December 17, 2009 @ 2:29 pm
I had an experience as a result of just clicking the Like button on a nondescript status report! It was jumped on and twisted into something more sinister than what was reality. If they want to get rid of you, it doesn't just have to be an embarrassing photo.

Comment by Esther — December 17, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
The best way to avoid getting tagged in a photo, in a compromising situation, is

Don't get to that situation!

Then you'll have nothing to hide.

The photos only document what you do. If you feel embarrassed, don't go there in the first place.

Comment by Raz Chorev — December 18, 2009 @ 2:16 am
Is there a way to find out WHO tagged me in a photo?

Comment by Darline — December 18, 2009 @ 6:48 am
For Marie Frechon; RE: your question…

I think I know what you are talking about. It is the same concern I have. I want friends to see my pictures and posts but no one else. Instead of unchecking the "Publish to Streams" box in the Additional Permissions, just leave it checked. Go to the "Profile" heading next to the "Additional Permissions" heading, then change the setting in the privacy scroll down menu to "Friends Only." I believe that will solve your problem. This way your pictures and news feeds about your pictures will be shared with just your friends. Make sure it is NOT on "Friends of Friends or Everyone." I may be wrong but it makes the most sense to me.

Comment by matt — December 18, 2009 @ 8:35 am
No, my question was not answered… how can I find out WHO tagged me in a photo. I was tagged in a photo on a Friend’s photo page. My Friend whose page it was did not tag me. How can I find out who did?

Comment by Darline — December 18, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
Darline, you should have received an email notification from Facebook when you were tagged. Also it should be in your notification list:
http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php

Comment by Raphael Pungin — December 18, 2009 @ 3:57 pm
Is it possible to prevent someone from tagging a photo from your facebook?

Comment by Elise — December 21, 2009 @ 3:42 pm
is there anyway to prevent tagged photos showing up on our walls? sometimes i dont check it before its on my wall for all my friends to see….

Comment by heyy — December 26, 2009 @ 1:44 am
Thanks a lot!!! Very useful information.

Regards from La Paz, Baja California Sur, México

Comment by Juan Carlos Pelayo S — January 7, 2010 @ 6:59 am
For Marie Frechon et al; RE: your question…

The reason I wanted this feature is that I found it really ANNOYING and I felt like I was sending out too many stream updates to my friends whenever I posted a photo album.

First I'd publish the album, and they'd get a blip that I had posted the album.

Then, I'd tag photos of me in the album… and blip they'd get another stream update about the same album. I found that unnecessary.

So I'm turning off the publish to streams because frankly I don't care for my friends to get a news update if someone tags a photo of me (they can always click on the "view photos of Andrew"; I just want them to know when I've posted a new album.

But I had the same concern as you… so how *do* I advertise my album to my friends if I've disabled publish to streams.

**** every album has a "post to profile" link… and this will do exactly what you need.

Hope this helps.

Comment by Andrew — January 15, 2010 @ 8:42 am
Thanks for this.

Comment by Kaze — January 17, 2010 @ 7:55 pm
Will facebook remove photos of underage drinking in the immediate timeframe of a sexual assault if the victim (who in the photo) so requests, particularly if the person who posts the photos refuses to?

Comment by Tony — January 24, 2010 @ 10:24 pm
Oh sorry Tony, I totally read that wrong… Get enough people to click the "report to facebook" button and I imagine they would.

Comment by Steve — January 26, 2010 @ 2:01 pm
This doesn't seem to work anymore.

All those applications have vanished from the list. Photos, comments, etc.

Correct me if I'm wrong! (I hope I am…)

Comment by Florian Mäder — February 5, 2010 @ 6:25 pm
PLEASE GET THE RECENT ACTIVITY TAB OFF FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DON’T WANT EVERYONE SEEING WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING ON MY DAY OFF…!!!!!!!!

Comment by Shadi feyona — March 9, 2010 @ 10:09 pm
Are you sure unchecking those two boxes will prevent FB from generating a feed story? The option is under the "Allow FaceBook to notify me by email when.." not "allow it to post when"… How does unchecking the option to be notified by email keep it from generating a news feed? I'm all for it if it works, but I just want to be sure it works, othewise if I uncheck it and FB no longer notifies me by email when someone tags a photo of me, I wont know when someone does tag a photo of me and I won't ge able to un-tag it.

Comment by Kim — March 11, 2010 @ 10:44 am
OK, I have a lot of friends from Mafia Wars, many of which I see a picture of months after they are in my Mafia. I saw a post from one of them that was, let's just say, VERY attractive and since I am a man, and awake, I had to look. I'm not a perv or anything but men just have no choice but to click on the profile picture. Next thing I know, apparently she has some app that shows who looks at her pics, tags me in it and it's posted on my wall and who knows who else's wall. WTF? Anyone know how to prevent that?

Comment by Tony — March 23, 2010 @ 8:45 am
Nobody should be able to tag a photo of another individual w/o their permission. FB needs to create an option for this.

Comment by Sara Wu — April 20, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
Is it possible if someone tagged me a photo on facebook yet you can still see on the live feed that it was my account who tagged that photo? Coz it happened to me today, and then honestly i didnt tagged that photo and i literally asked my possible suspects and still they said no. Also, can i know who tagged that photo? A swift reply would be great, thanks

Comment by Paul — May 10, 2010 @ 11:00 pm
I have changed everything to ONLY the people I like to get NEWS FEED , I have restricted to 1 single person I DO NOT WANT to show what I post on her pictures.

I have change everything on Privacy settings to ONLY ME

GUESS WHAT?

All remains the same fucking way

STILL The bloody comment I put on her picture remains on the WALL of a friend of mine, and his profile is not even related at any way to hers.

What is FACEBOOK fucking doing?

Comment by ALex Wells — July 9, 2010 @ 10:36 pm
Alex Wells….exactly, this is what i'm trying to fix…why does my comments on someone's pics appear on allll my friends new feed and they are know way related to her, no mutual friends, nothing! i already tried making all restrictions i could…

any help from anyone????

Comment by Ridwan — July 21, 2010 @ 3:15 am
oh my thank you very much. Youv been a great help to me. I just dont know what to do with people who doesnt care about how im gonna feel if they tag me in unpleasant photos. its just really annoying. there are things id rather not let to world know. Because there are things that are not necessary to be known. thanks a lot.

Question:

When i go to application settings. there is just "Authorized" instead of "allowed to post"

now when i choose the "photos" application, there are three tabs there, Profile, bookmark & edit settings

Under edit settings, there is no such thing as "publish to stream" box. just "publish content to my wall"

this means the photos im tagged in will not show on news feed anymore right?

I hope so.

Comment by Kamilla Winters — August 30, 2010 @ 10:35 am
[...] The one reason that Facebook wouldn’t do this is that they want to generate additional engagement from the process of tagging photos. Requests may actually strike a balance in that users are still encouraged to come back to the site to check on photos they’ve been tagged in (in turn increasing site engagement) but require user approval (simultaneously protecting users from photo tagging disasters). [...]

Pingback by Facebook Testing Photo Tagging Requests And Approvals — September 22, 2010 @ 10:20 am
I want everybody to get a new news feed when I make a status update on my wall, but I dont want them to get a news feed when I comment on somebody's picture or anything else really.

I want to remove myself off everybody's news feed except for when I make a status update on my page.

Yeah, Facebook.. do that for christs sake.

Comment by Jim — September 30, 2010 @ 4:36 pm
it tells you in an email you tard

Comment by sadfsdfa — October 5, 2010 @ 10:54 am
Yup, I mean it's not funny when somebody tags you and you end up sharing pictures you do not approve, it's excellent if you are the troll kind of person… fb has become kind of a battlefield lately.

Comment by asas — November 11, 2010 @ 12:26 am
Great and definitely necessary article. However, very recently FACEBOOK HAS REMOVED "PHOTOS" FROM THE APPLICATIONS-PRIVACY PAGE, the same works for videos, which makes the tags appearing in ones wall and friends' newsfeed unavoidable!

any solution/comment on this? I can't believe fb plays with the users' privacy so freely.

Comment by Alba — November 25, 2010 @ 2:59 pm
I am one of those individuals NOT on FB. I know, the horror. …How in the world can I prevent someone from tagging me in a photo they posted by just knowing my email address or name?

Comment by Chris — December 13, 2010 @ 6:51 pm
??
i don't get what your problem is? of course tagged photos appear in the news feeds of all your "friends" – as everything does you do on FB. BUT you can generally decide who can see those tagged photos in your privacy settings, is that so hard to understand? in the most extreme setting it can only be seen by yourself.

and if you wanna delete it from your news feed just do that by hitting the X right next to it.

Comment by No one — January 8, 2011 @ 2:35 pm
got the same prob here elise…and I dunno whose doing the tagging. To top it, I AM NOT GETTING FB notifications re tagging, and it's very aggravating…

Comment by deborah — January 21, 2011 @ 1:13 am
just because you delete a post from YOUR news feed, it doesn't necessarily disappear from everybody else's.

Comment by Some One — January 22, 2011 @ 4:08 am
duhhh but, not everybody lives on their computer, were talking about the amount of time it spends tagged before we untag it… it should be set up to where we have to approve tagged photos

Comment by shaun — January 26, 2011 @ 1:44 am
I agree. I generally only tag people in my photos who are actually in the photo. I see no reason to tag other people. I'm finding that a lot of people are tagging my photos that I have uploaded to my profile with their names or names of their friends who are not in the pictures. Why?? Only my friends and family are supposed to be able to see my photos. I'm now questioning whether or not my photos are still private. There needs to be a setting to prevent other people from tagging photos that are not theirs.

Comment by pixygiggles — February 8, 2011 @ 11:57 am
Well what if you don't want your old tagged photos to be not invisible to your friends but not allow newer photos that may be tagged to be seen? Setting it the most extreme setting, as can only be seen by yourself, won't that also include the older photos?

Comment by Anonymous — February 23, 2011 @ 8:03 am
The world hates people like you

Comment by Ushud Getalife — March 3, 2011 @ 4:56 pm
At least, I should approve if someone tagged me in a photo. Lots of people are complaining about the lack of privacy settings in fb. It's obvious that popularity of facebook will drop soon, if it stays like that.

Comment by Jack — March 13, 2011 @ 12:12 pm
I was having the same problem. but there is a way to avoid people tagging you. go to account settings, then privacy, clic on customize settings. and look for an option that says "friends can check me into places" disable that option. after that friends wont be able to tag you.

Comment by Ivan Aguilera — March 27, 2011 @ 2:36 pm
[...] who can click a mouse can see your Facebook profile photo. This means your mom, your local spiritual leader and even your boss can view, download or share [...]

Pingback by 5 Facebook Profile Photos To Avoid — April 8, 2011 @ 10:08 am
This info is old and incorrect. The links & fixes you provide are not to be found.

Comment by Dannielle Wood Hixson — April 14, 2011 @ 6:15 pm
Hello all… I set up my profile banner the way I'd like it to show, but everytime a person tags me, it will mess it up… How can I prevent pictures of me, tagged by someone else to show up in my profile? I can imagine it would be impossible to prevent anyone from tagging me, and I know I can delete a tagged photo, or undo a tag, but that would make me look as a douche… Any suggestions?

Comment by @Fear_Allah — April 24, 2011 @ 5:13 am
Thanks a lot dear finally i got rid of it….. you are great.

Comment by Priyank Ahuja — April 28, 2011 @ 10:25 am
thats not true. they just cant check you into places, like it says. one has nothing to do with the other.

Comment by Facebook User — July 30, 2011 @ 4:24 pm
have you heard of photoshop? I have been tagged in photoshopped pictures. since I cant prevent creativity, I would like to prevent being tagged in someone's artistic vision.

Comment by Facebook — July 30, 2011 @ 4:30 pm
Facebook is shit people..They can do whatever they want once you setup and agree to their terms..Thats why it free. Its a spy machine..

Comment by Doug — August 21, 2011 @ 7:15 am
This info should must update as facebook has changed the sort of privacy settings. Alas…!

Comment by Syed Mohammed Ali — September 13, 2011 @ 10:04 am
I am blocked from tagging photos but I am not sure why?? I didn't post anything that was offensive?

Comment by bigsis917 — September 29, 2011 @ 7:43 pm
Ok well, we need an updated post on how to do this now…facebook just screwed up all my privacy settings, that's enough to make me want to delete my account

Comment by Ann — October 26, 2011 @ 5:54 am
I was tagging photos and then suddenly I got this message telling me that I was using the feature in a wrong way and now facebook blocked me from tagging my photos for at least 2 days… What the freak!!!
Like what was I doing wrong? I clicked on a photo and added a name… That's how you tag a photo, right?
I'm really ticked off…

Comment by heide — November 13, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
I just got my laptop back last night and I'm excited to upload and tag photos but then suddenly, while I was tagging, facebook blocked me from using the feature for at least 2 days… What the freak!!!
Last night, I was getting warnings to slow down and it told me that I was using the feature in a wrong way. Like how do you tag a photo anyway? Click on a picture and add a name, right? What wrong did I do?
So I stopped tagging last night and I was hoping that it would be better this morning but when I was tagging again, it told me the same thing.
Then facebook blocked me from tagging my photos for at least 2 days…
I'm really ticked off right now…
Me no likey…
Hate! Hate! Hate!

Comment by heide — November 13, 2011 @ 6:56 pm
All employers should be banned from facebook.

Comment by bob fairlane — December 6, 2011 @ 6:19 pm

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It would give me a lot more privacy if I could have the option to approve tagged photos. I hate it when I'm tagged in a picture that looks horrible, not only because the photo makes me look stupid, but if I untag it, I look stupid as well.

Comment by George — December 17, 2009 @ 9:34 am

Question: won't Step 2 also block photos posted by me? Example: When creating a new photo album, I like to have that "announced" in a wall news feed, for friends to check out. The unchecked "Publish to streams" photo settings will prevent such new photo albums posted by me to show up on wall feeds no?

Comment by Marie Frechon — December 17, 2009 @ 9:40 am

Thanks! This is a great way to keep those embarrassing photos out of your boss' newsfeed.

Comment by Facebook User — December 17, 2009 @ 10:25 am

Chances are you won't look stupid unless you really are but there's no reason to let the world see. I agree.

Comment by Recruiting Animal — December 17, 2009 @ 2:29 pm

I had an experience as a result of just clicking the Like button on a nondescript status report! It was jumped on and twisted into something more sinister than what was reality. If they want to get rid of you, it doesn't just have to be an embarrassing photo.

Comment by Esther — December 17, 2009 @ 10:35 pm

The best way to avoid getting tagged in a photo, in a compromising situation, is

Don't get to that situation!

Then you'll have nothing to hide.

The photos only document what you do. If you feel embarrassed, don't go there in the first place.

Comment by Raz Chorev — December 18, 2009 @ 2:16 am

Is there a way to find out WHO tagged me in a photo?

Comment by Darline — December 18, 2009 @ 6:48 am

For Marie Frechon; RE: your question…

I think I know what you are talking about. It is the same concern I have. I want friends to see my pictures and posts but no one else. Instead of unchecking the "Publish to Streams" box in the Additional Permissions, just leave it checked. Go to the "Profile" heading next to the "Additional Permissions" heading, then change the setting in the privacy scroll down menu to "Friends Only." I believe that will solve your problem. This way your pictures and news feeds about your pictures will be shared with just your friends. Make sure it is NOT on "Friends of Friends or Everyone." I may be wrong but it makes the most sense to me.

Comment by matt — December 18, 2009 @ 8:35 am

No, my question was not answered… how can I find out WHO tagged me in a photo. I was tagged in a photo on a Friend’s photo page. My Friend whose page it was did not tag me. How can I find out who did?

Comment by Darline — December 18, 2009 @ 2:19 pm

Darline, you should have received an email notification from Facebook when you were tagged. Also it should be in your notification list:
http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php

Comment by Raphael Pungin — December 18, 2009 @ 3:57 pm

Is it possible to prevent someone from tagging a photo from your facebook?

Comment by Elise — December 21, 2009 @ 3:42 pm

is there anyway to prevent tagged photos showing up on our walls? sometimes i dont check it before its on my wall for all my friends to see….

Comment by heyy — December 26, 2009 @ 1:44 am

Thanks a lot!!! Very useful information.

Regards from La Paz, Baja California Sur, México

Comment by Juan Carlos Pelayo S — January 7, 2010 @ 6:59 am

For Marie Frechon et al; RE: your question…

The reason I wanted this feature is that I found it really ANNOYING and I felt like I was sending out too many stream updates to my friends whenever I posted a photo album.

First I'd publish the album, and they'd get a blip that I had posted the album.

Then, I'd tag photos of me in the album… and blip they'd get another stream update about the same album. I found that unnecessary.

So I'm turning off the publish to streams because frankly I don't care for my friends to get a news update if someone tags a photo of me (they can always click on the "view photos of Andrew"; I just want them to know when I've posted a new album.

But I had the same concern as you… so how *do* I advertise my album to my friends if I've disabled publish to streams.

**** every album has a "post to profile" link… and this will do exactly what you need.

Hope this helps.

Comment by Andrew — January 15, 2010 @ 8:42 am

Thanks for this.

Comment by Kaze — January 17, 2010 @ 7:55 pm

Will facebook remove photos of underage drinking in the immediate timeframe of a sexual assault if the victim (who in the photo) so requests, particularly if the person who posts the photos refuses to?

Comment by Tony — January 24, 2010 @ 10:24 pm

Oh sorry Tony, I totally read that wrong… Get enough people to click the "report to facebook" button and I imagine they would.

Comment by Steve — January 26, 2010 @ 2:01 pm

This doesn't seem to work anymore.

All those applications have vanished from the list. Photos, comments, etc.

Correct me if I'm wrong! (I hope I am…)

Comment by Florian Mäder — February 5, 2010 @ 6:25 pm

PLEASE GET THE RECENT ACTIVITY TAB OFF FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DON’T WANT EVERYONE SEEING WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING ON MY DAY OFF…!!!!!!!!

Comment by Shadi feyona — March 9, 2010 @ 10:09 pm

Are you sure unchecking those two boxes will prevent FB from generating a feed story? The option is under the "Allow FaceBook to notify me by email when.." not "allow it to post when"… How does unchecking the option to be notified by email keep it from generating a news feed? I'm all for it if it works, but I just want to be sure it works, othewise if I uncheck it and FB no longer notifies me by email when someone tags a photo of me, I wont know when someone does tag a photo of me and I won't ge able to un-tag it.

Comment by Kim — March 11, 2010 @ 10:44 am

OK, I have a lot of friends from Mafia Wars, many of which I see a picture of months after they are in my Mafia. I saw a post from one of them that was, let's just say, VERY attractive and since I am a man, and awake, I had to look. I'm not a perv or anything but men just have no choice but to click on the profile picture. Next thing I know, apparently she has some app that shows who looks at her pics, tags me in it and it's posted on my wall and who knows who else's wall. WTF? Anyone know how to prevent that?

Comment by Tony — March 23, 2010 @ 8:45 am

Nobody should be able to tag a photo of another individual w/o their permission. FB needs to create an option for this.

Comment by Sara Wu — April 20, 2010 @ 2:50 pm

Is it possible if someone tagged me a photo on facebook yet you can still see on the live feed that it was my account who tagged that photo? Coz it happened to me today, and then honestly i didnt tagged that photo and i literally asked my possible suspects and still they said no. Also, can i know who tagged that photo? A swift reply would be great, thanks

Comment by Paul — May 10, 2010 @ 11:00 pm

I have changed everything to ONLY the people I like to get NEWS FEED , I have restricted to 1 single person I DO NOT WANT to show what I post on her pictures.

I have change everything on Privacy settings to ONLY ME

GUESS WHAT?

All remains the same fucking way

STILL The bloody comment I put on her picture remains on the WALL of a friend of mine, and his profile is not even related at any way to hers.

What is FACEBOOK fucking doing?

Comment by ALex Wells — July 9, 2010 @ 10:36 pm

Alex Wells….exactly, this is what i'm trying to fix…why does my comments on someone's pics appear on allll my friends new feed and they are know way related to her, no mutual friends, nothing! i already tried making all restrictions i could…

any help from anyone????

Comment by Ridwan — July 21, 2010 @ 3:15 am

oh my thank you very much. Youv been a great help to me. I just dont know what to do with people who doesnt care about how im gonna feel if they tag me in unpleasant photos. its just really annoying. there are things id rather not let to world know. Because there are things that are not necessary to be known. thanks a lot.

Question:

When i go to application settings. there is just "Authorized" instead of "allowed to post"

now when i choose the "photos" application, there are three tabs there, Profile, bookmark & edit settings

Under edit settings, there is no such thing as "publish to stream" box. just "publish content to my wall"

this means the photos im tagged in will not show on news feed anymore right?

I hope so.

Comment by Kamilla Winters — August 30, 2010 @ 10:35 am

[...] The one reason that Facebook wouldn’t do this is that they want to generate additional engagement from the process of tagging photos. Requests may actually strike a balance in that users are still encouraged to come back to the site to check on photos they’ve been tagged in (in turn increasing site engagement) but require user approval (simultaneously protecting users from photo tagging disasters). [...]

Pingback by Facebook Testing Photo Tagging Requests And Approvals — September 22, 2010 @ 10:20 am

I want everybody to get a new news feed when I make a status update on my wall, but I dont want them to get a news feed when I comment on somebody's picture or anything else really.

I want to remove myself off everybody's news feed except for when I make a status update on my page.

Yeah, Facebook.. do that for christs sake.

Comment by Jim — September 30, 2010 @ 4:36 pm

it tells you in an email you tard

Comment by sadfsdfa — October 5, 2010 @ 10:54 am

Yup, I mean it's not funny when somebody tags you and you end up sharing pictures you do not approve, it's excellent if you are the troll kind of person… fb has become kind of a battlefield lately.

Comment by asas — November 11, 2010 @ 12:26 am

Great and definitely necessary article. However, very recently FACEBOOK HAS REMOVED "PHOTOS" FROM THE APPLICATIONS-PRIVACY PAGE, the same works for videos, which makes the tags appearing in ones wall and friends' newsfeed unavoidable!

any solution/comment on this? I can't believe fb plays with the users' privacy so freely.

Comment by Alba — November 25, 2010 @ 2:59 pm

I am one of those individuals NOT on FB. I know, the horror. …How in the world can I prevent someone from tagging me in a photo they posted by just knowing my email address or name?

Comment by Chris — December 13, 2010 @ 6:51 pm

??
i don't get what your problem is? of course tagged photos appear in the news feeds of all your "friends" – as everything does you do on FB. BUT you can generally decide who can see those tagged photos in your privacy settings, is that so hard to understand? in the most extreme setting it can only be seen by yourself.

and if you wanna delete it from your news feed just do that by hitting the X right next to it.

Comment by No one — January 8, 2011 @ 2:35 pm

got the same prob here elise…and I dunno whose doing the tagging. To top it, I AM NOT GETTING FB notifications re tagging, and it's very aggravating…

Comment by deborah — January 21, 2011 @ 1:13 am

just because you delete a post from YOUR news feed, it doesn't necessarily disappear from everybody else's.

Comment by Some One — January 22, 2011 @ 4:08 am

duhhh but, not everybody lives on their computer, were talking about the amount of time it spends tagged before we untag it… it should be set up to where we have to approve tagged photos

Comment by shaun — January 26, 2011 @ 1:44 am

I agree. I generally only tag people in my photos who are actually in the photo. I see no reason to tag other people. I'm finding that a lot of people are tagging my photos that I have uploaded to my profile with their names or names of their friends who are not in the pictures. Why?? Only my friends and family are supposed to be able to see my photos. I'm now questioning whether or not my photos are still private. There needs to be a setting to prevent other people from tagging photos that are not theirs.

Comment by pixygiggles — February 8, 2011 @ 11:57 am

Well what if you don't want your old tagged photos to be not invisible to your friends but not allow newer photos that may be tagged to be seen? Setting it the most extreme setting, as can only be seen by yourself, won't that also include the older photos?

Comment by Anonymous — February 23, 2011 @ 8:03 am

The world hates people like you

Comment by Ushud Getalife — March 3, 2011 @ 4:56 pm

At least, I should approve if someone tagged me in a photo. Lots of people are complaining about the lack of privacy settings in fb. It's obvious that popularity of facebook will drop soon, if it stays like that.

Comment by Jack — March 13, 2011 @ 12:12 pm

I was having the same problem. but there is a way to avoid people tagging you. go to account settings, then privacy, clic on customize settings. and look for an option that says "friends can check me into places" disable that option. after that friends wont be able to tag you.

Comment by Ivan Aguilera — March 27, 2011 @ 2:36 pm

[...] who can click a mouse can see your Facebook profile photo. This means your mom, your local spiritual leader and even your boss can view, download or share [...]

Pingback by 5 Facebook Profile Photos To Avoid — April 8, 2011 @ 10:08 am

This info is old and incorrect. The links & fixes you provide are not to be found.

Comment by Dannielle Wood Hixson — April 14, 2011 @ 6:15 pm

Hello all… I set up my profile banner the way I'd like it to show, but everytime a person tags me, it will mess it up… How can I prevent pictures of me, tagged by someone else to show up in my profile? I can imagine it would be impossible to prevent anyone from tagging me, and I know I can delete a tagged photo, or undo a tag, but that would make me look as a douche… Any suggestions?

Comment by @Fear_Allah — April 24, 2011 @ 5:13 am

Thanks a lot dear finally i got rid of it….. you are great.

Comment by Priyank Ahuja — April 28, 2011 @ 10:25 am

thats not true. they just cant check you into places, like it says. one has nothing to do with the other.

Comment by Facebook User — July 30, 2011 @ 4:24 pm

have you heard of photoshop? I have been tagged in photoshopped pictures. since I cant prevent creativity, I would like to prevent being tagged in someone's artistic vision.

Comment by Facebook — July 30, 2011 @ 4:30 pm

Facebook is shit people..They can do whatever they want once you setup and agree to their terms..Thats why it free. Its a spy machine..

Comment by Doug — August 21, 2011 @ 7:15 am

This info should must update as facebook has changed the sort of privacy settings. Alas…!

Comment by Syed Mohammed Ali — September 13, 2011 @ 10:04 am

I am blocked from tagging photos but I am not sure why?? I didn't post anything that was offensive?

Comment by bigsis917 — September 29, 2011 @ 7:43 pm

Ok well, we need an updated post on how to do this now…facebook just screwed up all my privacy settings, that's enough to make me want to delete my account

Comment by Ann — October 26, 2011 @ 5:54 am

I was tagging photos and then suddenly I got this message telling me that I was using the feature in a wrong way and now facebook blocked me from tagging my photos for at least 2 days… What the freak!!!
Like what was I doing wrong? I clicked on a photo and added a name… That's how you tag a photo, right?
I'm really ticked off…

Comment by heide — November 13, 2011 @ 6:30 pm

I just got my laptop back last night and I'm excited to upload and tag photos but then suddenly, while I was tagging, facebook blocked me from using the feature for at least 2 days… What the freak!!!
Last night, I was getting warnings to slow down and it told me that I was using the feature in a wrong way. Like how do you tag a photo anyway? Click on a picture and add a name, right? What wrong did I do?
So I stopped tagging last night and I was hoping that it would be better this morning but when I was tagging again, it told me the same thing.
Then facebook blocked me from tagging my photos for at least 2 days…
I'm really ticked off right now…
Me no likey…
Hate! Hate! Hate!

Comment by heide — November 13, 2011 @ 6:56 pm

All employers should be banned from facebook.

Comment by bob fairlane — December 6, 2011 @ 6:19 pm

How To Avoid A Facebook Photo Tagging Disaster

Step 1: Properly Configure Your Photo & Video Privacy Settings

Step 2: Block Facebook Photos From Generating Feed Stories

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How To Avoid A Facebook Photo Tagging Disaster

Step 1: Properly Configure Your Photo & Video Privacy Settings

Step 2: Block Facebook Photos From Generating Feed Stories

Recommended Articles

Inside Social Apps 2012 is Less Than Two Weeks Away

926154 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2Ffacebook-photo-tagging-2009-12How+To+Avoid+A+Facebook+Photo+Tagging+Disaster2009-12-17+17%3A11%3A07Nick+O%27Neillhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2F%3Fp%3D9261 »

Leave a comment

Follow AllFacebook

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Social Media Jobs

Let your next job find you!

Featured Company

Jobs of the Day

Digital Strategist

Digital/Social Media Manager - Entertainment

Social Media Coordinator

See all jobs

Upcoming Events

926154 Comments2009-12-17+17%3A11%3A07Nick+O%27Neill »