How to remove Facebook followers

Posted by

Lara Bakker

September 13, 2026

On September 13, 2026

Do you want to remove Facebook subscribers or stop strangers from following you? The most important step is to first work out whether you are dealing with your personal profile or a Facebook page. On a personal profile, you generally cannot simply remove individual followers from your followers list. However, you can choose to let only friends follow you, block someone, limit posts or adjust your visibility. On a Facebook page, you generally cannot remove people as ordinary followers, but you can block or ban them from your page if necessary.

Facebook uses several terms that can be confusing: followers, subscribers, friends, page likes and page followers. This can make something simple seem more complicated than it should be. Below, you will find exactly which option you need, what happens after you use it and how to tidy up your account calmly without accidentally losing reach or privacy.

Can you remove Facebook subscribers?
Change who can follow you on Facebook
Block or restrict someone on Facebook
See who follows you on Facebook

Can you remove Facebook subscribers?

On a personal Facebook profile, you cannot always select an individual subscriber and simply remove them as you would remove a friend. Facebook mainly gives you control through your privacy settings. You decide who can follow you, who can view your public posts and who can contact you.

The best option depends on what you want to achieve:

What do you want to do?	Best option	What happens?
Stop strangers from following you	Set your account so that only friends can follow you	People who are not your friends can no longer follow your public updates as followers
Keep a particular person away	Block them	That person can no longer view your profile normally or contact you through Facebook
Let a friend see less	Add them to your restricted list	That friend mainly sees what you post publicly or posts in which you tag them
Hide your friends list	Change the privacy setting for your friends list	Other people cannot easily see who your friends are
Stop unwanted messages	Ignore, restrict or block messages	You receive fewer messages or no contact from that person

For many people, the Who can follow me setting is the quickest solution. It helps prevent strangers from remaining connected to your profile as subscribers. If you are mainly dealing with one difficult person, blocking them is generally clearer.

Change who can follow you on Facebook

If you do not want strangers to be able to follow you, set your follower setting to Friends. Only people who are your friends will then be able to follow you. Friends generally follow you automatically unless they choose to unfollow you.

Facebook sometimes changes menu names slightly between app versions. If you cannot see the exact wording, look for sections such as Audience and visibility, Followers, Public content or Public posts.

Choose who can follow you on your mobile

Open the Facebook app.
Tap your profile picture or the menu marked with three lines.
Go to Settings and privacy.
Tap Settings.
Go to Audience and visibility.
Tap Followers and public content.
Find Who can follow me.
Select Friends.

From that point, your profile will be less open to people who are not your friends. Keep in mind that public posts you shared earlier may still be visible to everyone if those posts are set to public. Check your older posts as well if you really want to tidy up your profile.

Choose who can follow you on a computer

Open Facebook in your browser.
Click your profile picture at the top right.
Select Settings and privacy.
Click Settings.
Go to Public posts or Followers and public content.
Find Who can follow me.
Set this option to Friends.

If you want to learn more about how Facebook explains followers and public posts, you can read the official Facebook information on this Facebook help page about following.

What happens to existing subscribers?

When you change the setting so that only friends can follow you, strangers can no longer follow your public updates in the same way. This means you do not need to remove everyone individually. It is particularly useful if you suddenly notice many unknown followers, or if your profile was previously public and you are no longer comfortable with that.

If you want to remain visible, perhaps because you create content or are developing a personal brand, think carefully before closing everything off. Public followers can increase your reach, but only if you are comfortable with it. You can also choose for each post whether it is public, for friends only or visible to a custom group.

Block or restrict someone on Facebook

Sometimes you may not want to change your entire profile, but you do want to give a particular person less access. In that situation, you essentially have three options: block, restrict or unfriend. These options may appear similar, but they work differently.

Block someone on Facebook

Blocking is the strictest option. Use it for spam, harassment, fake accounts or someone you genuinely no longer want on your profile.

Go to the profile of the person you want to block.
Tap or click the three dots on their profile.
Select Block.
Confirm your choice.

After you block them, that person generally can no longer find your profile normally, send you a friend request or contact you in the usual way through Facebook. Blocking also works well when someone is not your friend but follows you or sends you messages.

Facebook also provides an official explanation of this feature on the help page about blocking people.

Restrict someone without blocking them

The restricted list is particularly useful for people who are already your friends but do not need to see everything. This might include a colleague, an old contact, a family member or someone you do not want to unfriend. Someone on your restricted list generally sees only your public posts and posts in which you tag them.

Set up the restricted list on your mobile

Go to the profile of the friend you want to restrict.
Tap the Friends button.
Select Edit friend list or a similar option.
Select Restricted.

Set up the restricted list on a computer

Go to the friend’s profile.
Click Friends.
Select Edit friend list.
Select Restricted.

This approach is more subtle than blocking. The other person does not normally receive a clear notification that you have restricted them. However, they may notice that less content is visible, for example, if mutual friends respond to posts they cannot see.

What is the difference between unfriending and unfollowing?

If you unfriend someone, you are no longer Facebook friends. That person may still be able to follow you if you allow public followers. If you only unfollow someone, you remain friends, but you see fewer or none of that person’s posts in your feed.

Useful points to remember:

Unfollow: you see less from the other person, but you remain friends.
Unfriend: the Facebook friendship ends.
Restrict: the other person remains a friend but sees fewer of your private posts.
Block: the connection is closed off as much as possible.

See who follows you on Facebook

Before removing anything or closing off your profile, it is sensible to first check who follows you. This lets you see whether they are real people, old contacts, strangers or accounts that appear suspicious.

View your followers in the Facebook app

Open the Facebook app.
Go to your profile.
Tap See your About info or scroll to your profile information.
Look for the Followers section.
Tap See all if that option is available.

Not every profile displays the same information in the same place. If you cannot see followers, it may mean that you have no public followers, your setting is set to friends or Facebook displays this section differently in your version of the app.

View your followers on a computer

Open Facebook in your browser.
Go to your profile.
Click Friends.
Check whether there is a tab or menu labelled Followers.

Facebook sometimes displays the total number less clearly on a computer than in the app. Use the app if you cannot easily find the list.

Remove or block followers of a Facebook page

A Facebook page works differently from a personal profile. A page has people who like it, people who follow it and people who comment or send messages. You cannot always remove every follower from a list. What you can generally do is block or ban someone from your page if they post spam, leave unpleasant comments or disrupt your community.

Block someone from your Facebook page

The exact steps can vary between the classic page view and the new page experience, but you can generally do this through your page settings or through a comment left by that person.

Go to your Facebook page.
Open your page settings.
Look for sections such as People and other pages, Access and control or Privacy.
Find the person or page you want to block.
Select the option to block or ban that person.

If someone leaves an unpleasant comment, you can often click the three dots next to that comment. You may find options there to hide, delete or report the comment, or block the person from the page.

When should you block someone from your page?

Blocking is mainly intended for clear problems. Examples include repeated spam, fake giveaways, insults, scams or comments that drive away other followers. It is better not to use it to remove ordinary criticism. A page that displays only positive comments can actually appear less trustworthy.

If your page is growing actively and you want to make more of your reach, also consider its overall presentation. A page with genuine interaction, clear posts and a tidy community feels stronger. If your page grows and you want to earn income from it, making money from a Facebook page may also be a logical next step.

Clean up fake followers and unknown accounts

Have you suddenly noticed many unknown followers with empty profiles, unusual names or little activity? They may be fake accounts or followers of low quality. There is no need to panic, but it is sensible to review your settings.

What can you do about suspicious followers?

Set Who can follow me to Friends if you do not want unknown followers.
Check whether older posts are still public.
Block accounts that send spam or leave unpleasant comments.
Do not accept friend requests from profiles you do not trust.
For a Facebook page, use the management options to remove spam comments or block users.

Pages may sometimes have additional settings for countries or age groups, depending on your page type and the current Facebook environment. Only use those limits if you are certain that you do not want to reach a particular group. For example, if you block a country where you also have genuine customers or fans, you may lose useful reach.

Be cautious with cheap bot followers

Bot followers may seem appealing because your number increases quickly, but they do not genuinely help your page or profile. They do not respond normally, do not click your posts and may even damage your image. A large number of followers with very few genuine reactions often looks unusual to visitors.

If you want to strengthen your Facebook presence, choose an approach that suits genuine visibility. On the Facebook services available from SocialKings page, you can find options for different goals. For a personal profile, you might choose to buy Facebook followers for your profile, while page managers may consider whether to buy Facebook page likes or attract extra attention to individual posts when they buy Facebook likes. Continue posting good content yourself as well, because genuine growth only feels strong when your profile or page also appears active and trustworthy.

Hide your friends list on Facebook

When strangers view your profile, they may also be able to see who your friends are. Not everyone wants this. Hiding your friends list is therefore a useful additional step when tidying up your Facebook account.

Hide your friends list on a computer

Open Facebook in your browser.
Click your profile picture at the top right.
Go to Settings and privacy.
Click Settings.
Go to Privacy.
Find Who can see your friends list?.
Select the visibility setting you are comfortable with.

Facebook also explains the privacy of friends and lists in its help centre. You can read more on this official Facebook help page.

Limit messages from followers

Removing subscribers does not always resolve everything. Sometimes the issue is not that someone follows you, but that they send messages, comment or keep trying to contact you. In this case, also review your Messenger and contact request settings.

On Facebook and Messenger, you can generally choose what happens to messages from people who are not your friends. Some messages go to message requests, while others can be ignored, deleted or blocked. If someone is bothering you, blocking them is often quicker than continually cleaning up.

Practical tips for a calmer inbox

Do not open suspicious links from unknown accounts.
Do not reply to spam, as this may encourage more messages.
Use Block when someone repeatedly bothers you.
Report scams, fake giveaways and threatening messages.
Check your message requests occasionally, particularly if you manage a public page.

Common mistakes when removing Facebook followers

Cleaning up a Facebook account is straightforward when you know what to look out for. These mistakes are common:

Assuming that unfollowing is the same as removing someone. If you unfollow someone, you do not remove that person as your follower.
Changing only your follower setting and forgetting older public posts. Check the visibility of older posts as well.
Treating a page like a personal profile. Pages have different management options from profiles.
Blocking too quickly when someone is simply offering ordinary criticism. On a page, this can create unrest. Focus on removing spam, abuse and harmful comments.
Buying cheap fake followers and trying to clean them up later. It is much easier to choose quality from the beginning than to fix a messy follower list afterwards.

Frequently asked questions about removing Facebook subscribers

Will someone receive a notification if I block them?

Facebook does not normally send a standard notification telling someone that you have blocked them. The person may still notice, for example, because your profile is no longer visible or they can no longer contact you.

Will someone receive a notification if I add them to the restricted list?

Generally not. The restricted list is intended to be a discreet privacy setting. However, someone may sometimes notice that they can see fewer of your posts.

Can I remove all unknown followers at once?

On a personal profile, the quickest method is to set Who can follow me to Friends. This helps stop strangers from continuing to follow you. There generally is no separate button that removes all unknown followers individually.

Can someone follow me again after I change the setting back to public?

If you later allow everyone to follow you again, strangers will be able to follow you again. If you do not want this, leave the setting on Friends.

Can I remove someone as a follower without blocking them?

For personal profiles, the options are generally limited. You can adjust your follower setting, unfriend someone if they are a friend or block them if you genuinely want to keep them away. You can also use the restricted list for friends.

Why can I not see followers on my profile?

This may be because you have no public followers, only friends can follow you or Facebook does not clearly display the list on your profile. Check your settings for followers and public content.

Which is better for privacy: friends or public?

For privacy, Friends is generally better. For visibility and reach, Public is more useful, particularly if you are a creator or often post publicly. Choose the option that suits how you use Facebook.

If you mainly use Facebook privately, you are generally well protected by allowing only friends to follow you, hiding your friends list and using stricter message settings. If you use a page or public profile, it is better to clean it up selectively, block spam and continue creating genuine content that supports trustworthy growth.