Unfortunately Facebook can not stop you from stalking. According to a 2012 study, 88 per cent of people “stalk” their exes on Facebook.
Facebook is a place for sharing life’s important moments, which for many people include their romantic relationships. When a relationship ends, we’ve heard from people that they sometimes have questions about the options available to them on Facebook.
Starting today, we are testing tools to help people manage how they interact with their former partners on Facebook after a relationship has ended. When people change their relationship status to indicate they are no longer in a relationship, they will be prompted to try these tools.
The tools give people the option to quickly and easily:
See less of a former partner’s name and profile picture around Facebook without having to unfriend or block them. Their posts won’t show up in News Feed and their name won’t be suggested when people write a new message or tag friends in photos.
Limit the photos, videos or status updates that a former partner will see.
Edit who can see their past posts with a former partner and untag themselves from posts with that person.
We’re starting to test these tools today in the US on mobile, and we’ll make changes and roll them out further based on people’s feedback. All of these tools are optional, and people will be able to access them in the help center anytime.
This work is part of our ongoing effort to develop resources for people who may be going through difficult moments in their lives. We hope these tools will help people end relationships on Facebook with greater ease, comfort and sense of control.
