Social media is a great tool used to interact and meet others. There are times when you or someone else can be "blocked" by another user. This feature is open to anyone for any reason.
To protect users' privacy or the feelings of others, Facebook does not show you who has blocked you. There is no notification that you have been blocked or a list of users who have blocked your account.
You might be wondering how do you know if someone has blocked you?
Blocked or friendless?
First of all, let's understand that there is a big difference between being blocked and not being friends. If someone deletes you, they just removed you from their friends list. You can still find them and see their comments in posts from mutual friends, and you can still see which parts of their profile or feed are open to the public.
However, if someone blocks you, they completely disappear. You won't be able to find anything they write on the site. Old comments from them on your own page will still be visible, but you won't be able to see what they're doing or saying in real time from the time of blocking.
Long story short, they are effectively disappearing from Facebook, as far as you know. So if you don't see them in your friends list but you can still see them on the site, you haven't been blocked, you haven't been friends.
How do you know if someone has blocked you on Facebook or deactivated their account?
Unfortunately, the blocking feature acts the same as when someone deactivates their account. Whether someone has blocked you or completely deactivated their account, you won't be able to send messages, view their posts, or view their profile. So how can you deduce whether you have been blocked or not?
How to know if you have been blocked
There are a few things that will let you know that you have definitely been blocked:
Find his profile
This one isn't foolproof by any means, but if you feel like you've been blocked due to a recent conversation or disagreement, look up the person's Facebook profile.
If nothing appears, you've probably been blocked. However, if the person closed their account (or Facebook closed it for them), you might not see their profile either.
Other people can still open their Facebook account
Ask a friend or family member to open their Facebook account. It works best with a disinterested third party, someone they're not likely to block. If the page appears, their account has not been deactivated.
Check your old group messages in Messenger
One of the most telltale signs that you've been blocked is checking old group messages. Bring up Facebook Messenger and scroll through your previous texts until you come across a message in which the individual was included. This only works with a group message.
The person who blocked you will appear as "Facebook user". Send a message and look for a read receipt from this empty profile. If one appears, you have been blocked because their account is still active.
Check posts and comments
If you just lost your friend, you will still be able to see your old friend's activity on your wall. Have they ever posted anything on your wall? Have they ever commented on any of your posts? How about messages from mutual friends?
Their posts and comments will not disappear from your page. However, instead of their name appearing as a clickable link, it will simply appear as bold black text. This is a sure sign that you have been blocked.
You can use the "Manage Posts" button on your Facebook profile to quickly find posts by date and tags.
Can you tell if someone has blocked you on Messenger?
Facebook Messenger can give you insight into your situation. When you think you've been blocked, you can scroll through the messages you've shared. Although they appear, rather than their profile, you will see the Facebook user.
If you're using the Messenger search bar, type in the name of the person you're interested in and they won't show up. This is a key indicator that you have been blocked.
If you try to message them, you'll get a message that this person doesn't accept Facebook messages. The "This person is not available" is a key indicator that your online relationship is over.
Breaking down how Facebook works in terms of friends, blocks, and everything else will help you understand if someone has blocked you.
Check their other social media accounts
Facebook owns Instagram, so similar principles apply. While it's unlikely that someone has deactivated all of their social media accounts, it's likely that someone who no longer wants to communicate with you will block you on all of their accounts.
If you go to Instagram, Snapchat or any other site and their profile doesn't show up, it's probably because you've been blocked. If you find them there, feel free to message them asking if they've deactivated their Facebook account.
When you block someone on Messenger, what do they see?
When you block someone on Facebook, they won't be able to see your profile or comments you've already made, either on their posts or someone else's. They won't be notified when you block them, so it won't be immediately obvious to them, but they might find out once they try to search for you or message you.
It won't directly tell Facebook Messenger that you blocked it, but it will say the person is "unavailable" immediately afterwards. If you're worried that they'll get mad at you after you block them, there's another alternative to blocking.
You can either delete them, spend less time on Facebook, or tell them directly that you still want to be friends in person and slowly fade out until they leave you alone.
Consider more than one approach
There are other explanations for many of the above strategies. We have already mentioned that someone can disappear from your friends list simply because they removed you from them. We also explained that someone could be untraceable because they changed their privacy settings. Accounts can also be suspended or deleted.
Since you won't see their profile, you won't be able to block them back. Their profile may reappear at some point, if you are still unwilling, you can flip the block at that time.
If you're concerned about your online friendship with another person, you can always ask them if they've deactivated their account. The response, or lack thereof, will enlighten you as to what is really going on rather than worrying you about it.
Unblock someone
If someone blocked you by mistake, like your grandma playing with Facebook and it went too far, you can follow these steps to unblock someone:
- Access Facebook settings from the app or browser
- Scroll down and click or tap "Privacy"
- Scroll down and click or tap "Block"
- Locate the profile in question and click 'Unblock'
- To confirm
Keep in mind that this action means you will have to wait to block them again for a short time. If you unblock someone from snooping in their profile, they will also be able to see yours until you can block them again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Someone said they know who I blocked, how is that possible?
Since Facebook doesn't make your blocking activities publicly available, people on your friends list won't know who you've blocked. The only logical explanation for this is that other people knew you blocked them (as explained above) and told your knowledge that they were blocked.u003cbru003eu003cbru003e more infallible. It's possible that the person in question has logged into your Facebook account and viewed your blocked people list. We have more information about u003ca href=u0022https://social.techjunkie.com/facebook-logging-out/u0022u003esecuring your Facebook account hereu003c/au003e.
If someone blocks me on Facebook, can I block them back?
Unfortunately no. If you're on someone's blocklist, their profile won't appear in any search results, so you simply don't have the option to block them back. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eHowever, if they unblock you, you can block them. You will need to check their profile regularly to see if they have unblocked you. But once they do, you'll have 48 hours to block them. Facebook has a policy that when you unblock someone, you can't block them again for 48 hours.
