How To Unfriend Someone Without Them Knowing

Sydney Read more August 24, 2021

You love hearing from your friends on Facebook, but some of your nearest and dearest just get under your skin. Sure, the social network is great for helping you stay connected with your friends, family members and other users you don’t see in person on a regular basis, but sometimes, some friends on your list just post too often. Whether you’re tired of the endless parade of cat videos, political rants filled with misinformation or purposefully inflammatory rhetoric, or you just don’t see a reason in staying connected with someone online, it might be time to remove them from your friends list.

How To Unfriend Someone Without Them Knowing

Of course, you don’t want to hurt their feelings, whether they’re distant relatives or long-time family friends. That raises some important questions: will the person you’re removing know you’ve unfriended them from Facebook? Is there a way to keep their posts off their feed without unfriending them to begin with. Let’s take a look at the answers to these questions and more in this Facebook guide.

Can You Unfriend Someone Without Them Knowing?

Facebook doesn’t notify anyone when they’ve been unfriended, so generally speaking, everyone you unfriend won’t know you’ve removed them from your friends list. That is, of course, until your friend searches your name on their platform, only to discover you’ve unfriended them. Whether the person you unfriended is wondering where your posts went, or they’re trying to wish you a happy birthday, there’s a good chance the person you’re removing from your online life will eventually discover they’ve been unfriended.

How to Unfriend Someone on Facebook

If you decide that you want to take the risk and boot your toxic friends from your list, you can manage it in three easy steps.

Visit the profile of the friend you want to remove from your account.
Click on the button that reads “Friends” toward the bottom of their banner photo.
Select Unfriend.

Consider Making Acquaintances

Facebook provides some more nuanced options than just friending and unfriending people. If you don’t want to reject this person outright, but you’re tired of seeing their posts every time you visit the site, add them to your acquaintance list. Facebook limits the number of posts it shows from your acquaintance list, so while you won’t remove this person from your Facebook account or your feed, you’ll still be able to view some of their updates on occasion.

To add someone to your acquaintances list.

Visit their page.
Click on the button that reads “Friends” toward the bottom of their banner photo.
Select Edit Friend List.
Select Acquaintances.

Unfollow to Secretly “Unfriend”

There is a middle ground option between completely deleting someone from your friends list entirely and keeping them around to continue viewing their posts. Facebook gives users the option to unfollow users from their pages, which makes it easy to keep someone on your profile’s friends list while never having to read their posts again. Perfect for estranged family members, ex-roommates, or former bosses, using the unfollow option keeps your feed tailored to exactly how you want it while also making sure you don’t have to remove users you may need to contact months or years down the road.

Here’s how to unfollow someone on Facebook.

Visit the user’s page.
Click on the button that reads “Friends” toward the bottom of their banner photo.
Select Unfollow.

After that, you’ll see their posts disappear from your news feed. You can always return to their profile if you want to catch up on what’s going on.

Restrict Someone to Limit Their Access

Finally, depending on the person you’re trying to remove from your account, you may choose to use your account preferences on Facebook to purposefully limit how they contact you. By restricting their access to your account, you can make it easy to hide your posts from them, in order to stop them from commenting on the things you post on Facebook.

Here’s how to restrict a friend’s access to your account on Facebook.

Visit their page.
Click on the button that reads “Friends” toward the bottom of their banner photo.
Select Edit Friend List.
Select Restricted at the bottom of your available lists.

Restricted friends can only see posts that you’ve made public or sometimes posts that you’ve specifically shared with mutual friends. They can’t see private or friends only posts, which means they won’t be able to invade your comments with their own thoughts and opinions.

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It’s always awkward when you have to cut ties with someone through social media. Just remember that Facebook understands and has many methods available for tailoring your feed, making it easy to customize your experience in the future. So next time you feel you need to delete someone from your account, keep in mind that Facebook is customizable and modular, keeping your account safe from cloying family members and troublesome former employees.