Facebook encourages content sharing and engagement amongst its users.
But what if you’ve posted your nice video, picture, or quote but would rather keep it to yourself, you don’t want others to share it?
This is a step-by-step guide on how to keep others from sharing your post by removing the Facebook share button.
By default, your Facebook post is set to “Public”, therefore it will have the Share button and anyone can share it.
To remove your Facebook share button you can start by making your post private so that “Only you” can view it, or share it with only “Friends”.
Although there is no direct way to disable the “Share” button on your Facebook posts, you can use some effective methods to limit the sharing of your content and tailor your privacy settings to suit your preferences.
To keep people from sharing your post(s), you can set your preferred audience right from when you create your Facebook post.
To do this:
Log into your Facebook account, go to “What’s on your mind…?” to create your post, and add your text or image to your post.
Below your username, you should see the default audience which is set to Public. Click on the drop-down and then go ahead and select Friends.
When you are done adding content to your post and setting the audience to friends, go ahead and Post.
As long as your post’s audience is set to Friends, there won’t be a Share button on it even if it’s your friends viewing it.
Basically, no one will be able to share it.
Tip: Ideally, I think it’s supposed to be that if the audience is set to Friends then only your friends should be able to share your post.
But for some reason, this is the way it is, for now, no one can share as long as the audience is set to anything other than Public.
Alternatively, you can change your post’s audience to Only me so that it is not visible to anyone else.
Though I don’t know why anyone would post on a public platform and then not want the post to be seen 🤔
But hey, it’s up to you!
Also Read: If I Search for Someone On Facebook Will They Know?
If you have already posted something and you want to stop people from sharing it, here are the steps for ‘how to turn off share button on Facebook’:
Open up your post and click on the 3 dots (…) then go to the Edit audience settings.
On the Audience popup set the audience to Friends or any other audience which is not Public, then click the Save button.
With this, the Share button will disappear from your post when anyone is viewing it.
Note: The share button will still show when you are viewing the post from your Facebook account, but to other people (your friends) it will not show.
Also Read: Can You Rearrange Photos On Facebook After Posting?
If you want to stop others from sharing your post on their Stories;
On PC;
Tap on your profile picture in the upper right corner then go to Settings & Privacy > Settings
In your Settings go to the Profile and tagging section, then turn off the “Allow others to share your posts to their stories?”
On Mobile;
Open your Facebook app on your Android or iOS device, tap your Facebook profile picture and then the Settings icon at the top (⚙).
Go to Stories > Sharing options.
Here, you can allow people to share your stories if you want them to, or you can choose to allow only the people you mention in your story to share it, or you can just not allow sharing if you prefer.
You can do the same for your Reels as well.
Note: While removing the Share button can come in handy to stop people from sharing your post, remember that people can still take screenshots of your post or even save it if it’s an image and then share it manually, even if you limit sharing on Facebook itself.
So it’s best to always be mindful of what you post online, even with the Facebook privacy settings in place.
Also Read: Can people see what groups you join on Facebook
Sometimes, someone’s post might be too good to not share, yet you can’t find a share button on it, here are some steps you can take:
- Ask for Permission: You could comment on the post or send a private message to the person who posted, asking for permission to share it on your timeline.
- Take a Screenshot: This method doesn’t share the original post directly, and you should still respect the content owner’s rights.
But you can take a screenshot of the post and then upload the image as a new post on your timeline. - Use the Link: If the post has a link, for example to an article or website, you can share the link separately in a new post on your timeline or a comment.
- Copy and Paste: Copy the text or content of the post and create a new post with the copied content, remember to give credit to the original poster if applicable.
FAQ
Some Facebook posts do not have the share button because of the posts’ privacy settings.
The audience is set to Friends or something other than Public.
You can allow people to share your post on Facebook by:
- Go to the post you want to make shareable and tap the three dots (…) in the upper right corner.
- In the pop-up menu, tap the Edit Audience option.
- Check the Public then Save.
The Share option on Facebook allows people to share your post publicly on their profile, pages, groups or stories.
While the Send option allows for private sharing.
People can send your posts to specific friends/people and they will receive it in their Facebook messages/messenger, then from there they can choose to view the post.
You will find the number of shares or shares count right below your post next to “Comment”.
And when you click on it a popup will show you which people shared your post.
Q. Why would I want to limit sharing on my Facebook posts or content?
Limiting sharing on your Facebook posts or content may come in handy if you want to control how your content is distributed, and if you’re concerned about privacy, sensitive information, or maintaining a specific audience.
When you share someone’s Facebook post, it appears on your timeline and your friends or chosen audience can see it as well.
The original post’s creator is credited as the source.
Conclusion
In summary, while directly removing the Share button on Facebook remains a challenge, Facebook provides users with options to adjust privacy settings and content moderation tools that you can leverage and restrict who can see and share your posts.
Being able to change your audience on individual posts instead of in general may be handy because it enables you to remove the share button from some posts but keep it on the others that you may prefer to share with the public.
