How to stay safe on social media: tips for protecting your privacy

A vacation photo can tell strangers that you’re not at home. A message from a friend might actually come from someone who has hijacked their account. Criminals know how to leverage public information, how to take over email inboxes, and compromise your other accounts.

Learning how to stay safe on social media begins with checking the publicly exposed information about you, and who can reach you. You also need a way to recognize suspicious requests before giving a stranger your sensitive personal information. In this guide, I show you how to limit social media risks.

What do social media privacy settings protect?

Your social media privacy controls are there so you can adjust who sees your content and who can contact you. On the other hand, security settings can help prevent someone else from signing into your account. Both of these are necessary, as a private account can still be breached, while a well-secured public account can expose more than you intended.

For example, a public birthday post might reveal a lot of things to strangers: your date of birth, family connections, and even your location. The comments themselves may reveal even more layers. Someone pretending to know you could learn how to craft convincing messages from a combination of that data.

Still, people can save your photos or forward a conversation, and disappearing messages also carry that same risk. Also remember that making your account private doesn’t stop the platform from processing information about your activity. Reviewing your ad preferences and app permissions is also important for privacy reasons.

Here are my top 9 tips for staying safe on social media.

1. Check what strangers can see

Imagine you’re viewing your profile as a stranger. If it’s available, use the platform’s public profile preview. Alternatively, use a different browser or incognito mode to see the publicly viewable content without logging into your account.

Your posts might not be the problem, but your bio information might be. If your home address or phone number doesn’t need to be public, remove them. If you’re a creator, publish a separate business email instead of your private contact details or home address.

Next, see who can view your new posts, then review your older posts too. Changing privacy settings for future posts now may not apply to content you’ve already shared. There’s no need to delete your entire history, just change the audience settings for personal updates and remove any sensitive content. Be especially careful with photos of children.

On another note, it’s also good to get consent before posting information about someone else. A friend may be fine with appearing in a photo with you but not with having their home tagged or their workplace details included. Check the caption carefully too.

2. Choose who can follow, message, and tag you

If you mostly use social media just to keep up with friends and family, start with a private account. Check your existing follower list as well, since you may no longer know or trust certain people you accepted a long time ago.

For public work accounts, check who can contact you. See if strangers can send direct messages and use filters to hide unwanted comments. Your posts can stay public while messages from strangers are restricted.

Also, turn on tag review where you can, though there are limits to it. It lets you decide if a tagged post appears on your profile, but it may not remove the original from the other person’s account. If a photo exposes private information, ask the person to delete it.

If you get a friend request from an existing friend, treat that as suspicious. Contact them directly via a familiar account or phone number to confirm the request is legitimate. Note that scammers can copy someone’s name and profile photo for a convincing duplicate account. Generally, I recommend you remove followers you don’t recognize or no longer want in your audience, especially if you share sensitive information like family updates.

3. Don’t reuse the same password everywhere

Reusing the same password on multiple accounts is bad cybersecurity practice. Create separate, completely different passwords for each of your social media accounts. If that one password you reuse is part of a data breach, someone could try breaching your accounts too. Don’t use typical information like your birthday or pet name in your passwords. A reliable password manager can help there, as it can create and store complex passwords for you. Bitdefender Total Security includes a password manager, as well as Data Breach Detection (on Android and iOS) – which checks if your credentials appeared in a data breach.

Next, enable multifactor authentication, also called two-factor authentication or two-step verification. This adds another check that follows after you put in your password, like a code from an authenticator app or SMS message. For your recovery codes, secure storage is essential because you could lose or misplace your phone.

Also remember to protect the email addresses connected to your social accounts. If someone gets into your inbox, they could attempt to reset your other passwords and lock you out. If that happens, you may be defrauded or your money may be stolen.

Never give a login code to anyone. Enter those codes only in the official app or website after you’ve started the process yourself. Don’t approve login attempts you didn’t request.

4. Stop and review unexpected messages before responding

You might get a message saying your account will be closed unless you act now. Don’t open any link in such a message. First, open the official platform’s app or website and confirm there’s such a warning.

Treat any prize notifications and identity confirmation requests the same way. Reach out to the actual organization first. A convincing message with a company logo doesn’t mean it’s safe to proceed.

Messages from friends are another potential risk. If your friend suddenly asks for money via a message, call them on their real number and confirm. Don’t interact with suspicious messages because that account may be hijacked.

Bitdefender Total Security also features Scam Protection. On mobile, that helps detect scams in texts, calls, and chat apps. You also receive early alerts about emerging scams.

5. Don’t expose your live location

Check if your app has a live location feature, as that’s something you should consider leaving off. Sharing your live location might tell someone where to find you, or that your home is going to be empty for a while. A photo can also reveal where you are, so check for house numbers, street signs, and any labels visible in the photo. Check the whole image before posting.

Share your location only when you need to and only with people you know. Stop sharing once it’s no longer required. Also, keep in mind that not every app needs your precise location information, so check that in your app settings. For example, Snapchat’s Ghost Mode is meant to hide your location from other people on Snap Map, but Snapchat still receives it. To stop the app from accessing your location, change its permission in settings.

It’s much safer to send the location directly to someone who needs to know where you are. There’s no need to expose this to everyone via your account.

6. Check what each social app can access

App permissions are often forgotten, but can create real risk. For example, a social media app may ask for your camera, photos, contacts, or location. Approve each access level only when a feature explicitly requires it.

In your phone’s settings, you can review what each social app has access to. In some cases, you can share the photos you select, not your whole image library. If you don’t need the app to use location, contacts, camera, or the microphone, disable those permissions. You should also check the apps and websites connected to your social account that you no longer need or have stopped using.

Before you disconnect a service you still use, check how you log in. If your social account is the only way to log in, add another method so you don’t lock yourself out.

7. Pay attention to ads, quizzes, and online sellers

Public quizzes can expose information used to protect your other accounts. Avoid any quizzes asking for personal information, like your childhood street or mother’s maiden name, since similar details may be used as answers to security questions.

As for social media ads, it’s like any other unfamiliar website. It’s important to verify that the seller is trustworthy, so research the store outside of your social platform. Check the store’s contact details, delivery information, and returns policy. Read any reviews you find, if available. Bitdefender Total Security’s Scam Protection can also help by blocking phishing sites and fake shops in real time.

Never put personal information in public comments – if a seller needs your order number, that should go through an official support channel. Also never post financial information, ID document numbers, or passwords to resolve a complaint.

If someone you met online is asking you to transfer money for an investment, stop and think. That person may spend a long time building trust with you to ultimately defraud or steal from you.

You should only give a business the essential details required for a purchase or service. A giveaway doesn’t need your account password or ID documents. Again, contact the organization through its official channels to confirm before sending anything.

8. Update your devices and check active logins

When you’re not using it, lock your device. Someone can easily open your accounts if you’re still signed in or read your browser tabs. They can also interact with your accounts.

Also install all the latest updates for your operating system and apps so your security is up-to-date. Download apps through official stores or verified websites only. Don’t install software from a pop-up or message you receive.

Login activity typically shows the active session and login history. If there are devices you no longer use, sign them out. If you see an unfamiliar device, immediately change your password and follow the platform’s account security instructions.

You should be able to see the device type, login time, and location details of logged in devices. If it’s just you using the platform, then there shouldn’t be any unfamiliar devices. If available, enable new-login alerts.

Finally, if you’re selling your phone, sign out of all accounts and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to erase the data on it.

9. Teach children how to handle unwanted contact situations

If your child uses social media, sit down with them and review the settings together. Check who can view the account, comment, and send messages. A private profile helps lower exposure, but it’s important the child doesn’t accept strangers’ requests. The Bitdefender Total Security Family plan covers 5 members plus up to 25 devices. It includes Parental Control, with internet time limits, activity reports, and content filtering.

In the case of unwanted or unfamiliar contact, explain to the child that they must stop replying, block the person, and ask for help from a trusted adult. Ask the child if anyone online has told them to keep secrets, share private information, or move the conversation to another app or website.

Many social platforms have age-based controls. Show the child how to block and report an account. As an adult, you should also check that posting a photo involving a child doesn’t reveal unnecessary personal information. Older children should be asked if they’re comfortable with you sharing their photos.

How Bitdefender Total Security supports safer social media use

Privacy settings can lower your exposure to strangers, but they don’t affect the files and links you may receive. A social media ad or private message can still take you to a dangerous login page or a download containing malware.

Bitdefender Total Security blocks phishing websites that try to hijack your login or payment data. It also provides protection from malware. Its Scam Protection also recognizes emerging SMS and social media scams. On Windows, Social Network Protection helps protect you from malicious links shared by friends on social networks.

The available features depend on your device. Check what Bitdefender features are available for your operating system, since iPhone protection differs from an antivirus scan on Windows.

Of course, keep in mind that while Bitdefender helps detect dangerous files and links, it can’t save you from bad cybersecurity habits like overexposing your personal information online. You still need to control who sees your content and approach unusual requests cautiously.

What to do if someone accesses your account or information

It may not be too late to act if someone has accessed your account or information, depending on the situation. First, work out what happened. If you posted a photo showing your address, remove the photo or change the audience settings.

It’s important to limit further exposure even if someone took a screenshot or copied text. Use these steps if someone may have accessed your account:

• Use the official recovery process. Open the official help center or support channels if you can’t log in. Never pay someone who claims they can recover the account.
• Change your password. Use a device you trust and change to a fresh password you haven’t used elsewhere. Change the password on any other account where you reused the old one. Enable multifactor authentication once done.
• Remove access. Sign out of all devices. Check the recovery email address and phone number. Remove any connected services or apps you don’t recognize.
• Tell people. Warn your friends and family to ignore possible requests for money or strange messages from accounts impersonating you.

The intruder may have modified your email accounts. If that’s the case, check for new email forwarding rules. They may be sending copies of your emails to someone else or moving information elsewhere.

If you installed a suspicious file or app on a device, use another device to access sensitive accounts until you have scanned the affected device. Make sure your security software is set to update automatically and then run a scan on the affected device.

Finally, if you have already sent money or shared payment information, contact your bank immediately. There might still be time to prevent financial losses.

Conclusion

Knowing how to stay safe on social media means limiting exposure of personal information, activating security features the platform offers, and adding digital protection from a vetted all-in-one security solution like Bitdefender Total Security.

If a message asks for personal information, money, or a login code, stop interacting immediately. To verify legitimacy, contact the person or company reaching out to you another way.

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