- Tap the […] icon located at the top of a Tweet from the account you wish to block.
- Tap Block, and then select Block to confirm.
What you share and who you share it with should be your decision
As you connect and share more online, knowing how to manage your privacy and protect your information is more important than ever. Below are links to tips and tools to help control who can see what you share and how to secure your accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Facebook Privacy
CTA recommends starting with Facebook's Privacy Checkup to help you review your privacy and security settings.
Facebook’s Privacy Checkup guides you through some of your privacy and security settings. You’ll walk through a few quick steps to make sure only the people you want to see your stuff can see it. You can review who you’re posting to, which apps you’re using, and the privacy of key pieces of information on your profile.
- Who can see what you share.
- How to keep your account secure.
- How people can find you on Facebook.
- Your data settings on Facebook.
- Your ad preferences on Facebook.
- Privacy. Review things like your location settings.
- Account Security. Update things like your password or alerts.
- Ad Preferences. Review your ad settings and learn more about ads at Facebook.
- Your Facebook Information. Review some of your information on Facebook using Access Your Information and your Activity Log.
- Safety. Use the Safety Center to learn about safety at Facebook and find helpful information on topics like bullying.
- Legal and Policies. Review our policies, including our Data Policy and our Community Standards.
Facebook allows you to manage basic privacy preferences through their Privacy Settings.
Facebook Privacy Basics help center features top topics based on your most frequently asked questions about privacy and security. Everything is organized so that information about protecting your privacy is easy to find. Privacy Basics puts you in the driver’s seat with 32 interactive guides available in 44 languages.
Facebook Security
Facebook offers several security features, such as login alerts and two-factor authentication, to help you add an extra layer of protection to your account. CTA recommends starting with a Facebook Security Checkup to review settings and add more security to your account.
You can use Facebook’s Security Checkup to review and add more security to your account.
- Get alerts when someone tries logging into your account from an unrecognized computer or mobile device.
- Learn how to protect your password.
- Enable two-factor authentication, an optional feature that adds more security to your Facebook account.
- Go to your Security and Login Settings.
- Scroll down to Get alerts about unrecognized logins and click Edit.
- Choose where you want to receive your alerts, such as from your email account or with a Facebook notification from a recognized device.
- Click Save Changes.
The best way to report abusive content or spam on Facebook is by using the Report link near the content itself. If you need help finding the Report Link for the content you’re trying to report, please visit Facebook’s Report Content center for detailed guides.
Twitter Privacy
Getting to know and controlling your Twitter privacy settings is an important part of helping protect your information. Here are some tip containing steps you can take to secure your account.
When you sign up for Twitter, you can choose to keep your Tweets public or protect your Tweets.
- Public Tweets (the default setting): Are visible to anyone, whether or not they have a Twitter account.
- Protected Tweets: Only visible to your Twitter followers. Please keep in mind, your followers may still capture images of your Tweets and share them.
Steps to protect your tweets:
- Open the Twitter app on your mobile phone
- Tap your profile picture
- Go to settings and privacy
- Go to privacy and safety
- Switch on “Protect your Tweets” (green is on)
When you block an account on Twitter, you restrict that account’s ability to interact with your account. It can be an effective way to handle unwanted interactions from accounts you do not want to engage with.
To block from a Tweet
To block from a profile
- Go to the profile page of the account you wish to block.
- Tap the […] icon located at the top of a Tweet from the account you wish to block.
- Tap Block, and then select Block to confirm.
Accounts you have blocked will not be able to view your Tweets, following or followers lists, likes, or lists when logged in on Twitter, and you will not receive notifications of mentions directly from those accounts. You’ll also stop seeing their Tweets in your timeline.
Blocked account may notice you have blocked them if they try to visit your profile or follow you, but they will not receive any notifications that you have blocked them.
Mute is a feature that allows you to remove an account’s Tweets from your timeline without unfollowing or blocking that account. Muted accounts will not know that you’ve muted them and you can unmute them at any time.
Steps to mute from a Tweet:
- From a Tweet, tap the […] more icon
- Tap Mute @twitterhandle.
Steps to mute from a profile:
- Go to the profile page of the person you wish to mute.
- Tap the […] more icon
- Tap Mute @twitterhandle.
Some important things to know about mute:
- Muted accounts can follow you and you can follow muted accounts. Muting an account will not cause you to unfollow them.
- Muting an account does not impact the account’s ability to send you a Direct Message.
- You will no longer receive push or SMS notifications from any muted account.
Before you Tweet, you’ll be able to choose who can reply with three options: everyone (standard Twitter, and the default setting), only people you follow, or only people you mention. Tweets with the latter two settings will be labeled and the reply icon will be grayed out so that it’s clear for people if they can’t reply. People who can’t reply will still be able to view, Retweet, Retweet with Comment, and like these Tweets.
*For now, only a limited group of people globally on Twitter for iOS, Android, and twitter.com can Tweet with these settings, but everyone can see these conversations.
Twitter Security
To help keep your account secure, we recommend the following best practices.
- Use a strong password that you don’t reuse on other websites.
- Use two-factor authentication.
- Require email and phone number to request a reset password link or code.
- Be cautious of suspicious links and always make sure you’re on twitter.com before you enter your login information.
- Never give your username and password out to third parties, especially those promising to get you followers, make you money, or verify you.
- Make sure your computer software, including your browser, is up-to-date with the most recent upgrades and anti-virus software.
- Check to see if your account has been compromised.
You can report directly from an individual Tweet, or profile for certain violations, including: spam, abusive or harmful content, inappropriate ads, self-harm and impersonation.
Steps to report a Tweet:
- Navigate to the Tweet you’d like to report.
- Tap the […] icon located at the top of the Tweet.
- Select Report Tweet.
Steps to report a profile:
- Open the profile you’d like to report.
- Tap the […] icon
- Select Report and then select the type of issue you’d like to report.
For further information on reporting violations of Twitter’s rules, visit their help center.
While Twitter remains a valuable tool for engaging with the public, increased safety concerns have arisen in light of their recent acquisition. While CTA is not leaving the platform, we are encouraging Twitter users to keep the following tips in mind:
- Do not use Twitter direct messages (DMs) for private or sensitive information.
- If you do decide to stop using the platform, instead of deleting your account, consider deleting all your Tweets and DMs and locking the account instead. This will ensure that bad actors can’t take over your Twitter handle later.
Instagram Privacy
- Public: Your profile and posts can be seen by anyone, on or off Instagram, even if they don’t have an Instagram account.
- Private: Only the followers you approve can see what you share, including your photos or videos on hashtag and location pages, and your followers and following lists.
Steps to set photos and videos to private:
- Tap or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- Tap in the top right, then tap Settings.
- Tap Privacy.
- Tap next to Private Account to make your account private.
- Tap or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- Tap Followers at the top of the screen.
- Tap Remove to the right of the follower you’d like to remove, then tap Remove to confirm.
Instagram Security
- Pick a strong password. Use a combination of at least six numbers, letters and punctuation marks (like ! and &). It should be different from other passwords you use elsewhere on the internet.
- Change your password regularly, especially if you see a message from Instagram asking you to do so. During automated security checks, Instagram sometimes recovers login information that was stolen from other sites. If Instagram detects that your password may have been stolen, changing your password on Instagram and other sites helps to keep your account secure and prevent you from being hacked in the future.
- Never give your password to someone you don’t know and trust.
- Turn on two-factor authentication for additional account security.
- Make sure your email account is secure. Anyone who can read your email can probably also access your Instagram account. Change the passwords for all of your email accounts and make sure that no two are the same.
- Log out of Instagram when you use a computer or phone you share with other people. Don’t check the “Remember Me” box when logging in from a public computer, as this will keep you logged in even after you close the browser window.
- Think before you authorize any third-party app.
Keep in mind that your report is anonymous, except if you’re reporting an intellectual property infringement. The account you reported won’t see who reported them.
There are multiple ways to report something or someone on the Instagram app depending on the content or activity you’re trying to report. Please visit Instagram’s abuse and spam center for detailed guides.