Worried that Facebook collects too much information on you and makes it too freely available to advertisers and others? You’re not the only one. CEO Mark Zuckerberg insists that Facebook is going to fix its privacy problems, but until it does, there are some things you can do to keep your personal information safe.

While there are plenty of ways you can tweak Facebook, here are some basic steps that will go a long way toward protecting your privacy on one of the world’s biggest social media networks.

Delete personal information

You’ll probably be surprised by how much personal information you’ve put on Facebook over the years, from places you’ve lived and visited to your phone number, birthday, and more. So your first privacy step should be to delete what you don’t want Facebook or other people to know.

On the web

• In your News Feed, click on your name and small photo at the top of the screen to go to your profile page
• On your profile page, click “About”
• Click each category on the left side of the About section (Overview, Work and Education, Places You’ve Lived, and so on). Hover over each entry you don’t want Facebook to retain; on the right side of the entry, you will either see an “Options” or “Edit” link that will let you delete the information — or most of it. There are a few entries, like “Birth Date” and “Gender” that can be changed but not deleted.

On your mobile device

• On your News Feed, tap your picture
• Scroll down and tap “Edit Public Details,” then scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap “Edit Your About Info” at the bottom of the page
• Here’s where you edit your personal information, including “Work,” “Places You’ve Lived,” and so on. To edit each, tap on the pencil icon on the right.

Switch Off Facial Recognition

Facebook has used facial recognition for years to tag your photos. If that makes you uneasy, here’s how to switch it off.

On the web:

• On any Facebook page, click the question mark at the top right of the screen and select “Privacy Shortcuts” > “Control Facial Recognition”
• From the screen that appears, click “Edit,” select “No,” and then “Close”

On your mobile device:

• On any Facebook page, tap the three horizontal lines on the lower right of the screen (on an iPhone) or the upper right (on an Android device). Scroll down and tap “Settings & Privacy” > “Privacy Shortcuts”
• As long as you’re here, look around to see what else you may want to tweak, such as location settings and ad preferences
• Select “Control facial recognition”
• On an iPhone, tap the right arrow, and from the next screen, tap “No”
• On an Android device, tap the box that asks, “Do you want Facebook to be able to recognize you in photos and videos?” On the next screen, select “No”

Limit the Data Facebook Partners Collect About You

When you use Facebook to log in to other sites or mobile apps, such as newspaper sites, TripIt, Yelp, or others, those sites get access to data from your Facebook account, including your photo, name, and other information.

If you’re an Apple user, you’ll soon be able to substitute “Sign-In with Apple” instead (assuming you feel that it’s safer). Or you can simply create new logins and passwords for each app. A good password manager will help you keep track.  

Once you’ve done that, you can go back and stop those sites from getting information about you from Facebook. (Note: If you haven’t logged in to those sites using Facebook in 90 days, the sites or apps won’t be able to access to the data anyway. But why wait?) If you do this using the web, you’ll be able to turn off access for specific sites, but if you do it on your phone, you can only get rid of all the connections in one fell swoop.

On the web:

• On any Facebook page, click the down arrow at the top right of the screen and select “Settings”
• Look for and select “Apps and Websites” from the left side of the screen
• You’ll be able to see all of the sites that are actively associated with Facebook, any that have expired (because they passed the 90-day mark), and any that you’ve already removed. Put a check in the box next to any website or app you want to disassociate from Facebook, and then click “Remove.”

On your mobile device:

• On any Facebook page, tap the three horizontal lines on the lower right of the screen (on an iPhone) or the upper right (on an Android). Scroll down and tap “Settings & Privacy” > “Settings” > “Apps and Websites”
• Find “Apps, Websites and Games,” and tap on “Edit”

Tap “Turn Off.” This will remove the permissions for every site that you formerly logged in to using Facebook.

Control Who Sees Your Posts and Personal Information

Do you really want the world to know your cat’s name, your favorite movies, and other information you might want to be seen only by friends? If you like sharing, but not with the entire world, you can control who sees your Facebook posts and other personal information.

On the web:

• On any Facebook page, click the down arrow at the top right of the screen and select “Settings,” then choose “Privacy” on the left side of the screen
• In the “Your Activity” section, find “Who can see your future posts?” and click on “Edit”
• Use the drop-down menu to choose who can see your posts: the public (in other words, everyone), just your Facebook friends, some of your Facebook friends should see them (you can choose who), or just you. Keep in mind that you can change this setting for any specific post by looking for the “News Feed” line just below the “Create Post” box and clicking on the drop-down menu.
• This is also the place where you can review each of the posts and items you’ve been tagged in, and choose whether to hide them. You can also limit past posts so that they can only be seen by friends.

On your mobile device:

• On any Facebook page, tap the three horizontal lines on the lower right of the screen (on an iPhone) or the upper right (on an Android). Scroll down and tap “Settings & Privacy” > “Privacy Shortcuts” > “See more privacy settings”
• In the “Your Activity” section of the screen that appears, you can make the same choices as above by selecting “Who can see your future posts,” “Limit who can see your past posts,” and “Who can see the people, Pages and lists you follow.”

Do a Quick Privacy Checkup

Facebook has put together a quick-and-dirty privacy checkup that lets you control many aspects of the information Facebook knows about you. You can complete it in about five minutes. Here’s how to do it.

On the web:

• On any Facebook page, click the question mark at the top right of the screen and select “Privacy Checkup”
• You’ll be walked through some of the privacy issues mentioned above, including who can see your Facebook posts, how much of your Profile information is public, and which apps are using Facebook as sign-ins

On your mobile device:

• On any Facebook page, tap the three horizontal lines on the lower right of the screen (on an iPhone) or the upper right (on an Android). Scroll to and tap “Settings & Privacy” > “Privacy Shortcuts” > “Review a few important privacy settings”
• You’ll be walked through the same privacy issues as on the web version

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YouTube has become a ubiquitous part of our online world, one where privacy is an issue. Your video-watching habits may be open for the world to see, along with your likes, dislikes, and more. If you create and upload videos, you could accidentally give away private information like your address or phone number.

Here’s how to protect your privacy as much as possible when using the popular video site. Instructions are here for using YouTube on the web and via a mobile app; I used the mobile app on an iPhone, but the Android version should work about the same.

Hide your video preferences

Start off by controlling two of your most important privacy settings: your watching habits and likes.

On the web

• Go to your YouTube homepage. Click on your avatar icon and select “Settings” then “Privacy.”
• The screen shows whether your liked videos, your subscriptions, and your saved playlists can be seen by the world or only by you.
• Check the box next to each category you’d like to keep private, then click “Save.”

On your mobile device

• On the YouTube app, tap on your avatar icon in the top right corner of the window.
• Select “My channel.”
• Tap on the gear icon to the right of your name.
• Under the subhead “Privacy,” you’ll be able to toggle on and off the ability to keep your liked videos, subscriptions, or saved playlists private.

Turn off or customize ad personalization

Google keeps track of the YouTube videos you watch, and it uses that information to deliver personalized ads. But if you don’t want your ad preferences tracked, you can turn it off. If you don’t mind personalized ads but still want some control over your privacy, you can delete some of the information Google has about your interests (for example, your taste in music).

On the web

• Select “Settings” > “Privacy” and then click the Google Ads Settings link in the “Ads based on my interest” section of the page.
• To turn off personalization, move the slider in the “Ad personalization” section to “Off.” (Note that this also turns it off for other Google services, such as search.)
• If you want to tweak your ad settings instead, scroll down to the “How your ads are personalized” section of the page. Enjoy how much Google thinks it knows about you, then click one or more interests that are either wrong or that you simply don’t want Google to know about.
• On the screen that appears, click “Turn off.”
• You won’t be able to turn off the info about your age and gender, however. Click either and a screen appears with an “Update” option that lets you change the gender (to either male, female, or “rather not say”) or age. However, you can’t delete them.

Using the mobile YouTube app

• In the YouTube app, tap “Library” (on the bottom of the screen) then “History.” Then tap the three-button menu and choose “History controls.”
• Tap “Manage all activity,” and from the screen that appears, tap the three-button menu to the right of the Search field, and select “Other Google activity.”
• Scroll down to the “Google Ads Settings” section and tap “Manage Ads Settings.” You’ll come to a page that lets you turn off or edit ad personalization as described previously.

Delete your watch and search history

When you’re signed into your Google account, YouTube keeps track of the videos you’ve viewed and your search history. You can delete any individual video, search, or all of them.

On the web

• Go to your YouTube homepage and click “History” on the left-hand menu. You’ll see a list of all of the YouTube videos you’ve watched.
• Hover your mouse over any video you want to delete from your history, and click the X that appears to delete it.
• To delete every single video, click “Clear All Watch History” from the right side of the page.
• To stop YouTube from remembering your videos, click “Pause Watch History” on the right side of the page.
• To do the same for your search history, select “Search history” on the right side of the page. Click the X next to any search to delete it, and click “Clear All Search History” to delete all searches. Click “Pause Search History” to pause searches.

Using the mobile YouTube app

• Using the YouTube app, tap the Library icon on the lower right of the screen, then tap “History.” You’ll see a list of all the videos you’ve watched when signed into Google.
• Tap the three-button menu next to any video you want to delete, then tap “Remove from Watch history” to delete it.
• Tap the three-button menu on the upper-right of the screen and tap “History Controls.” Tap “Clear watch history” to remove all videos from your history, and “Clear search history” to remove all searches.
• To stop YouTube from remembering your videos, move the slider next to “Pause watch history” to on, and to stop YouTube from remembering your searches, move the slider next to “Pause search history” to on.

Control the privacy of your own videos

If you post videos to YouTube, there’s a lot to worry about: notably, privacy-invading content in your videos. Make sure you don’t inadvertently include any information or pictures you don’t want made public, such as the number on your house or your car’s license plate. Pay close attention to backgrounds because that’s where personal images might slip through.

After taking care of that, do the following if you want only certain people, and not the public at large, to see your videos.

On the web

• Go to your Creator Studio uploads page. Note that the Creator Studio (where YouTube videos are uploaded) has been updated recently; these instructions are for the most recent version.
• Look for the column called “Visibility” and hover your mouse in that column for the video whose privacy you want to control.
• Click on the drop-down arrow and choose either “Private” or “Unlisted.” A private video can’t be seen by anyone unless you share the URL with them. It won’t show up in searches, be posted on your channel, or appear in your feed, and it can’t be shared by others, show up in a channel section, or be commented on. An unlisted video won’t show up in searches, be posted to your channel, or show up in a subscriber feed, but it can be shared and commented on by others, and it will show up in a channel section.
• To share a private or unlisted video, hover your mouse to the right of its description, click the three-button menu to the left of the Visibility column, then select “Get shareable link.” That copies the link to your clipboard; you can now use it to send the link through email, messaging, or however you like.
• When uploading videos in the future, if you don’t want them to be public, choose either “Private” or “Unlisted” from the dialog box that appears when you upload.

Using the mobile YouTube app

• Tap on your avatar icon in the upper right corner of the home screen and select “My channel.”
• You’ll come to a page that has your uploads, playlists, liked videos, saved playlists, and subscriptions. Each of your uploads will have, to the right of the name, three vertical dots. Tap on that.
• On the pop-up menu, tap on “Edit.”
• This is where you can edit the title, description, tags, location, and privacy of your video. Tap on “Privacy.” You can then select “Public,” “Unlisted,” or “Private.”

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Instagram is a great way to share photos with friends, family, and the rest of the world, but it could also open you up to privacy and security risks. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. It’s easy to protect yourself and still get the most out of what Instagram has to offer.

Here are five ways to keep your account safe. There are separate instructions for the web and for mobile apps and notations where the iOS and Android apps differ.

Make your account private

Take a simple privacy step by turning your public account into a private one. This will let you share your photos with a select group of people while keeping them hidden from everyone else. That way, only people you really care about will be aware of your activities.

On mobile

• Go to your profile by tapping the “person” icon on the lower-right corner of the screen. Swipe to the left and tap the Settings gear icon that appears.
• Select “Privacy and Security” then “Account Privacy.”
• Toggle “Private Account” on.

On the web

• Click on the “person” icon in the upper-right corner, and then look for the gear icon next to your name.
• Select “Privacy and Security” then “Account Privacy.”
• Click on the checkbox for Private Account.

From now on, only your existing followers will be able to see your posts. Anyone else will have to send a follow request to you first.

Block specific followers

If one of your followers becomes annoying (or worse), you can also block specific followers from seeing your posts. (Don’t worry: followers aren’t notified that you’ve blocked them.)

On mobile

• Tap “Followers” at the top of the main mobile menu.
• Search for the follower you want to block.
• If you’re using iOS, tap the three horizontal dots next to their name. If you’re using Android, tap the three vertical dots. Select “Remove.”

On the web

• Click on the person icon and then on “Followers.”
• Search for the follower you want to block.
• Click on that person’s icon, then look for the three horizontal dots to the right of their name. Select “Block this user.”

Turn on two-factor authentication

Worried that someone will log in to your Instagram account and pose as you? Turn on two-factor authentication, which will send you a text message with an authentication code every time you log in to Instagram on a new device. You’ll then have to type in the code to complete logging in.

On mobile

• Go to “Settings” > “Privacy and Security” > “Two-Factor Authentication” > “Get Started.”
• Toggle on “Text Message.”
• If you’d prefer to instead use an authentication app like Google Authenticator, toggle on “Authentication App” instead. The app will see if you already have one installed. If you don’t, it will suggest one.

On the web

• Go to the person icon, then click on the gear icon.
• Click on “Privacy and Security” > “Edit Two-Factor Authentication Setting”
• Check “Text Message.” If you have an authentication app available, you will also be able to check “Use Authentication App.” Otherwise, it will be grayed out.

Prevent third-party apps from getting your data

There are tons of third-party apps that ask you to get access to your Instagram data, like an app that schedules Instagram posts for you. So before agreeing to let one access your data, factor in that the more companies that have private information about you, the more likely it is that the information can be misused or stolen. Even more important: make sure that you only grant Instagram access to apps that truly have a need for it.

To revoke access to apps that already have it, you have to use the web interface; you can’t do this through the mobile app.

• Log in to Instagram on a browser on a phone or computer, and click or tap the person icon on the upper-right corner of the screen.
• Click or tap on the gear icon.
• Click on “Authorized Apps.” (Look for it on the left-hand menu.) You’ll see a list of apps that have been authorized to access Instagram.
• Click on the “Revoke Access” button for any app that you want to unauthorize, and then select “Yes.”

Check if someone has hacked your account

Worried that someone has hacked your Instagram account? You can check by viewing your past account activity, including logins, logouts, changing a password, and more.

• Using the mobile app, go to “Settings” > “Privacy and Security” > “Access Data.” On the web, tap the “person” icon in the upper-right of the screen. Click the gear icon, and select “Privacy and Security” > “View Account Data.”
• You’ll come to an info page that has a great deal of data on how your account has been used. You can click any category to get more information, such as “Account privacy changes,” “Logins,” “Logouts,” “Hashtags you follow,” and so on.
• Pay special attention to “Account privacy changes,” “Password changes,” “Logins,” “Logouts,” and “Stories Activity.” If you see anything that’s unfamiliar, it may mean that someone else is using your account. Immediately change your password to lock them out.

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