How to Delete Facebook Posts That Show Where You Live
Even if your social media threats are more of a whimper or annoyance than a full-blown war from Internet strangers, you can still prevent images of your home (and ideally, your address) from being left idle on Facebook.
According to New York Times columnist Ben Smith, the solution is as simple as reporting posts (including written words and / or images, if I interpret Facebook’s policies correctly) that showcase your address. As he writes :
If an article shows your house or apartment, says what city you are in, and you don’t like it, you can complain to Facebook. Facebook then ensures that no one can share the article on their giant platform, and, as a bonus, blocks you from sending it to anyone on Facebook Messenger.
He adds:
This policy sounds crazy because it can be applied to dozens, if not hundreds, of news articles every day – indeed, to staple reporting for generations, including Michael Bloomberg’s expansion of his mansion in 2009 and the comings and goings of Hampton’s elites. … Does Alex Rodriguez dislike a story that has a photo of him and his ex-fiancee Jennifer Lopez smiling in front of his house? Delete it. Is Donald Trump annoyed by a story that has a photo of him outside his room in Mar-a-Lago? Gone. A lawyer told me that Facebook’s hands are tied by his own politics.
Of course, the actual rules that Facebook uses to determine whether it should take action to identify content is a little more subtle than that. But first, here is Facebook’s general position on the actions it will take against content that does not meet the company’s community standards (as outlined in section II.11):
We remove content that shares, offers or solicits personal information or other proprietary information that could result in physical or financial harm, including financial, residential and health information, as well as personal information obtained from illegal sources.
Facebook has a ton of criteria for what qualifies as “personal” content. However, if we’re just talking about where you live, then here is the specific section that applies:
Images showing the appearance of private houses if all of the following conditions are met:
- A residential building is a single-family house, or the apartment number of a resident is indicated on the image / signature.
- City / area or GPS contacts (e.g. icon from Google Maps) defined
- Content identifies the resident (s)
- The same resident objects to his private home being exposed, or there is a context for organizing protests against the resident (this does not include embassies, which also serve as residences).
If you’re not sure, then all you have to do is use the “Find support or report a post” option using the standard three-dot icon in the upper right corner of any Facebook post. Point out that the content violates Facebook community standards, state your case, and see if Facebook takes action. Where possible, link to the specific section of the Facebook Community Standards that the posting violates.