Facebook’s Stories feature allows you to post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. By default, Stories from friends of friends or Pages you follow may show up in your feed. If you don’t want to see Stories from people you don’t know, there are a few things you can do.
Adjust News Feed preferences
The easiest way to see less content from strangers is to adjust your News Feed preferences:
- Go to your Facebook News Feed
- Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon in the top right corner
- Select “News Feed Preferences”
- Under “Prioritize who to see first,” choose “Friends”
This will make Facebook show you more posts from your friends and fewer posts from Pages and people you don’t know.
Unfollow people or Pages
Another option is to unfollow people or Pages whose Stories you don’t want to see. To do this:
- Go to the profile of the person or Page
- Click “Following” next to their name
- Select “Unfollow”
This will stop their stories from appearing in your feed, but you’ll still remain connected as friends or keep liking the Page.
Adjust Story privacy settings
You can also limit who can see your own Facebook Story:
- When creating a Story, click the audience selector (globe icon)
- Choose who can view your story – friends, close friends, only you, customize, or public
Setting your story to “Friends” or “Close Friends” means it will not be visible to strangers.
Blocking tags from strangers
If strangers are tagging you in their posts or stories, you can prevent this by adjusting your tagging preferences:
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings
- Click “Privacy”
- Under “How people can find and tag you,” select “Friends” or stricter
This will mean only your friends, or no one, can tag you moving forward.
Removing unwanted tags
To remove tags people have already added without your permission:
- Go to the post you’re tagged in and click the 3 dots icon
- Select “Remove Tag”
You can also report the content as harassment if it’s particularly unwanted.
Limiting story reshares
When people share public stories, they can end up being viewed by many strangers. To limit story reshares:
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Settings
- Click “Privacy”
- Under “Limit the audience for posts you’ve shared with friends of friends or Public?,” select “Friends”
This means your friends won’t be able to reshare your posts or stories to strangers either.
Removing reshares
To remove an instance where your story was reshared:
- Go to the reshared story
- Click the 3 dots icon
- Select “Report” or “Remove Share”
Reporting the content will alert Facebook to remove the reshare if it violates any rules.
Blocking strangers entirely
You can block other users who are bothering you with unwanted stories or interactions:
- Go to the user’s profile
- Click on the 3 dots icon next to “Message”
- Choose “Block”
This will:
- Prevent them from viewing your profile or posts
- Prevent you from viewing their profile or posts
- Stop notifications from that person
You can remove the block at any time if needed.
Reporting harassment
If someone is harassing you repeatedly with unwanted stories, tags, messages, or posts, report them to Facebook:
- Click on the 3 dots icon on their content
- Select “Report”
- Choose “Harassment” as the issue
Facebook will investigate and may disable the person’s account if they are violating policies.
Using tools to limit audience
Facebook offers several tools you can use to be more selective about who sees your stories:
Close Friends list
The Close Friends feature allows posting stories to just an inner circle:
- Go to your profile and tap “Add to Close Friends” next to friends’ names
- When posting a story, choose “Close Friends” as the audience
This will limit it just to those you’ve added to that list.
Private stories
You can create private stories that are only visible to you:
- When posting a story, tap the audience selector
- Choose “Only Me”
Private stories will not be visible to anyone else on Facebook.
Customized privacy
For the maximum control, customize exactly who can see each story:
- Tap the audience selector when posting
- Choose “Customize”
- Uncheck boxes to exclude groups of people
You can customize it down to individual friends or exclude categories like friends of friends.
Using Facebook groups and events
Facebook groups and events allow you to connect with people who share specific interests without sharing to all your friends:
Join relevant interest groups
Search for and join public or private groups focused on your hobbies, topics, organization or personal interest. Share stories there instead of to all friends.
Create your own group
If you can’t find an existing groups that suits your needs, you can create your own and invite only certain friends to join.
Share in events
When RSVPing or invited to events, you can post stories visible just to other guests attending that event.
Sharing stories in closed groups or events keeps the audience targeted to only those you want to see that content.
Conclusion
While Facebook Stories allows connecting in a more personal way, it can feel invasive when strangers views into your content uninvited. Luckily Facebook provides many tools and settings to limit your audience and block unwanted users when necessary. A few simple changes can help you share stories more privately and avoid opening up your profile to strangers and spam. Focus on connecting with people you know without having to go public or deal with unwanted tags and reshares from random Facebook users you’re not friends with in real life.