Compliance And Safety Training

A Simple Guide To Privacy Settings For Protecting Your Personal And Professional Information Online




Adjusting these settings ensures you control who can access your data and reduces the risk of cyber threats.

1. Why Are Privacy Settings Important?

  • Protect Personal Information: Prevent unauthorized access to your personal details like phone numbers, addresses, and photos.
  • Safeguard Your Online Identity: Helps prevent identity theft, phishing, and impersonation.
  • Control Visibility: Ensure your posts and data are only shared with the people you trust.
  • Avoid Data Exploitation: Limit how companies collect, use, or share your data for advertising or other purposes.

2. Key Privacy Settings to Adjust Across Platforms

A. Profile Visibility

  • Limit your profile information to Friends Only or Connections Only.
  • Avoid making sensitive details (e.g., email, phone number, birthday) public.

B. Post Visibility

  • Set posts to "Private" or "Friends Only."
  • Customize audience settings for individual posts to exclude specific users.

C. Tagging and Mentions

  • Review or approve tags before they appear on your profile.
  • Limit who can tag or mention you in posts or comments.

D. App Permissions

  • Regularly review and remove third-party apps or websites connected to your account.
  • Limit apps from accessing unnecessary personal data (e.g., contacts, location).

E. Location Sharing

  • Turn off location sharing unless absolutely necessary.
  • Disable location services for photos to avoid geotagging sensitive places.

F. Ad Preferences

  • Limit data used for personalized ads by adjusting ad preferences.
  • Opt out of interest-based or third-party data sharing for advertising purposes.

3. Privacy Settings for Specific Platforms

A. Facebook Privacy Settings

  1. Profile Privacy:
  2. Go to Settings > Privacy to adjust who can see your posts, friends list, and profile details.

  3. Set your default audience to "Friends Only" or "Only Me" for sensitive posts.

  4. Tag Review:

  5. Enable Timeline Review under Settings > Profile and Tagging to approve tags before they appear.

  6. Limit Past Posts:

  7. Use Limit the Audience for Past Posts to make old posts private.

  8. Ad Preferences:

  9. Disable ad targeting based on your activity by going to Settings > Ads Preferences.

B. Instagram Privacy Settings

  1. Make Your Account Private:

  2. Go to Settings > Privacy > Account Privacy and switch to "Private Account."

  3. Restrict Interactions:

  4. Use Settings > Privacy > Comments to filter or block unwanted comments.

  5. Control who can send you direct messages (DMs).

  6. Location Sharing:

  7. Turn off location tags for photos and disable GPS access in your phone’s settings.

C. Twitter Privacy Settings

  1. Protect Your Tweets:

  2. Go to Settings > Privacy and Safety and enable "Protect Your Tweets" to approve followers before they can see your posts.

  3. Limit DMs:

  4. Restrict who can send direct messages under Privacy and Safety > Direct Messages.

  5. Turn Off Location Information:

  6. Disable location data for your tweets under Settings > Privacy and Safety > Location Information.

D. LinkedIn Privacy Settings

  1. Control Profile Visibility:

  2. Adjust Visibility settings under Settings > Visibility to limit who can see your profile, connections, and activity.

  3. Manage Data Sharing:

  4. Opt out of data sharing with third-party apps under Settings > Data Privacy.

  5. Who Can Contact You:

  6. Restrict who can send you connection requests or messages.

E. Google Account Privacy Settings**

  1. Manage Activity:

  2. Go to Google Account > Data & Personalization to review and pause location, search, and YouTube activity tracking.

  3. Control Ad Personalization:

  4. Visit Ad Settings and disable personalized ad tracking.

  5. Adjust App Permissions:

  6. Check third-party apps with account access under Security > Third-Party Access.

4. Tips for Maximizing Privacy

A. Limit Sharing of Personal Information

  • Avoid posting sensitive details like your phone number, address, or financial information.

B. Use Strong Passwords

  • Protect accounts with long, unique passwords stored in a password manager.

C. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

  • Add an extra layer of security by enabling 2FA for all social and email accounts.

D. Review Privacy Policies

  • Familiarize yourself with platform policies on data collection and sharing.

E. Regularly Audit Privacy Settings

  • Revisit and update privacy settings every few months to adapt to changes in platform policies.

F. Be Cautious About Friend Requests

  • Only connect with people you know or trust to reduce the risk of phishing or scams.

5. Tools to Protect Your Privacy?

  1. Privacy Checkup Tools:

  2. Platforms like Facebook and Google offer built-in privacy checkups to review settings.

  3. Ad Blockers:

  4. Use extensions like uBlock Origin or AdBlock Plus to limit ad tracking.

  5. VPNs:

  6. Encrypt your connection with VPNs like NordVPN or ExpressVPN to protect data on public Wi-Fi.

  7. Browser Privacy Extensions:

  8. Use tools like DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials or Privacy Badger to block trackers.

6. Why Privacy Settings Should Be Revisited Regularly

  • Platform Updates: Platforms often update privacy features, and default settings may change.
  • New Features: New social media features may introduce additional privacy risks.
  • Evolving Threats: As hackers develop new methods, strengthening privacy settings becomes crucial.
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