When you block someone on Facebook, it severs the connection between you and that person on the platform. You won’t be able to see their posts, comments, or any other activity. Likewise, that person won’t be able to see yours. This leads to an obvious question – what happens to your existing likes and comments on that person’s posts if you block them later? Do they disappear automatically, or do they remain visible to others?
The short answer is: your likes and comments will not be deleted automatically once you block someone. They will remain visible on that person’s posts to other people. However, the blocked person will no longer be able to see that you have liked or commented on their content.
What Happens When You Block Someone on Facebook
Blocking someone on Facebook prevents them from:
- Seeing your posts, likes, comments in their News Feed.
- Starting conversations with you on Messenger.
- Adding you as a friend.
- Inviting you to events or groups.
- Tagging you in posts, photos or statuses.
- Contacting you on Marketplace.
So in essence, blocking hides your entire presence from someone on Facebook. But it doesn’t delete or undo any of your past interactions like likes, comments, tags etc.
When you block someone, that person is immediately removed from your friends list if they were connected to you earlier. They won’t get any notification about being blocked – you will simply disappear from their viewpoint.
What Happens to Your Likes and Comments
Liking and commenting on someone’s posts creates public connections that are viewable by other people in their network. Blocking doesn’t remove these public interactions. So if you had liked or commented on any of their posts in the past, those will still be visible to others, even if you can’t see them anymore.
For example, if John blocks Jane:
- Jane’s previous posts that were liked by John will still show his like to others.
- Any comments made by John on Jane’s posts remain there. Jane won’t be able to see them anymore though.
- If Jane’s posts or photos were tagged with John, those tags stay even if John blocks Jane.
- Any reactions made by John to Jane’s content also remain visible.
The blocked person loses visibility, but not the engagement itself. Of course, you can always manually unlike, delete comments or untag yourself if you don’t want your interaction to be present. But blocking itself won’t remove it automatically.
Are There Any Exceptions?
There are two exceptions where blocking someone will remove your likes/comments:
- If you block someone who is your Facebook friend, any likes and reactions made on their friends-only posts will be removed.
- Comments made in closed groups will disappear after blocking someone who is part of that group.
So if you’ve liked or reacted on posts that have limited visibility to the blocked person’s friends or group members only, those will no longer be accessible after blocking them.
Other than these two scenarios, your engagement stays intact for public viewing on their profile and posts. Of course, you can remove them manually by going to each post and deleting your comments or likes. But there is no bulk “delete all my likes and comments” option after blocking someone.
Does Blocking Remove Tags?
Being tagged by someone in a post or photo creates a public association with your profile that is visible to others. When you block the person who tagged you, the tags remain on their end. For example:
- If Jane posts a photo and tags John in it, other people can still see John tagged even if he has blocked Jane.
- Posts that John is tagged in by Jane will still show his name as tagged by others.
The tagged profile is searchable and clickable for others. Blocking only prevents the person who tagged you from doing it again in the future. But it doesn’t affect existing tags which remain public.
Of course, John can untag himself from Jane’s posts and photos. Or report tags that are unwanted. But the act of blocking itself doesn’t lead to untagging.
Who Can See the Past Likes and Comments?
For public posts, anyone who can see that post can also view the likes and comments on it. So blocking a person doesn’t remove your engagement from public visibility of others in their network. Some examples:
- On a public post, your likes remain visible to anyone who can see that post.
- For friends-only posts, only the blocked person’s friends can view your past likes or comments.
- In groups, likes and comments remain visible to other group members.
- On pages and profiles, anyone who visits can see your past engagement.
So if privacy settings allow your network to view the post, they can see your past interactions regardless of you blocking the person later. Comments and reactions also continue to notify others when they are made, even if the blocked person can’t see them.
How to Remove Likes, Comments or Tags After Blocking
If you don’t want your past engagement or tags to remain public after blocking someone, you can remove them manually:
- To unlike a post, visit the post and click on your like icon to undo it.
- Go to each individual comment and delete it or report as unwanted.
- Untag yourself from any posts or photos you’re tagged in.
- If you suspect fake tags, report them for removal.
There’s no single button to erase all your history with a blocked account. It takes effort to remove every instance of interaction, especially if done over an extended period. So expect to invest some time if you want their posts to look like you never engaged.
Using Tools to Delete Likes and Comments
Several third-party apps and browser extensions promise to delete likes, comments and tags in bulk after blocking someone. Some popular options:
- Social Book Post Manager for bulk deleting interactions.
- FBTrex can remove all likes at once.
- Social Book Cleaner to delete old posts, comments and likes in batches.
However, always check the credibility of such tools before using them. Make sure they don’t spam or access private data. Stick to reputable apps with transparency about permissions.
What Happens When You Unblock Someone?
Unblocking restores the normal relationship where you and the other person can view each other’s activity on Facebook. So if you unblock someone:
- They will be able to see your posts, comments, likes again.
- You will once again see their profile information and posts.
- Any friends-only content shared before blocking will become visible again.
- You will be re-added as friends if you were connected earlier.
- Comment notifications will resume as normal.
Essentially, unblocking undoes the effects of blocking. Things go back to how they were before the block happened.
Importantly, nothing you did during the blocking period becomes visible retroactively. For example:
- If you posted during the block, the blocked person won’t be able to see it once unblocked.
- Any unfriending, unliking or untagging done after blocking stays that way.
- You remain unsubscribed from their posts if you unfollowed during the block.
So unblocking just resumes regular visibility going forward. It doesn’t reveal content from the interruption period. To see that content, one of you has to re-add the other as a friend.
Can They See I Blocked Them?
When you block someone on Facebook, they don’t get notified about it directly. But there are some signs that give it away:
- Your comments and likes will suddenly disappear from their view.
- Their messages will show as “sent” but not “delivered to” you.
- They will be unable to tag you or invite you to events.
- Your profile and posts will be inaccessible.
Based on these signals, a blocked person can deduce that you took the step to block them, even if they didn’t receive an explicit alert. Of course, after unblocking, they have no way to know if and when they were blocked.
Pros and Cons of Blocking Someone
Blocking can be used if someone is harassing you online or making unwanted contact repeatedly. But it also has some downsides:
Pros
- Prevents further posts or content from someone annoying or harassing you.
- Stops notifications and messages from that person.
- Provides distance from excessive tagging or interactions.
- Can offer mental and emotional relief in cases of bullying or trauma.
Cons
- Doesn’t remove existing likes, comments or tags – manual untagging required.
- The person may realize they are blocked based on your disappearance.
- Mutual friends/contacts may notice your lack of communication.
- The block can seem like an escalation if used too soon.
So evaluate whether blocking is the best course of action for your situation. In some cases, unfollowing, hiding posts or reporting content may work better than completely blocking someone.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Blocking someone on Facebook hides your content from them and their content from you.
- It does not automatically delete your past likes, comments, reactions or tags on their posts.
- These remain visible to others who can normally see that content.
- You have to manually unlike, delete comments and untag yourself to remove your past engagement.
- Unblocking someone resumes normal visibility going forward.
So if you wish to erase your social media history or associations with someone on Facebook, blocking alone won’t achieve that. You need to put in additional effort to unlike and untag their posts to cut those ties. Consider whether blocking is necessary or more discreet options like unfollowing may work better for your situation.