How to raise privacy settings on online platforms
Privacy. A term that’s been thrown around and become a bit of a media buzzword; the meaning has been altered and potentially even lost. You can make your own decisions over many privacy options: who can see what you’re doing, who you’re with and even where you are. The intention here is not to scare but to emphasise the importance of what you can do to manage your privacy online. Keeping your private stuff private is vital and it’s often common advice in a situation where your privacy has been or might be, compromised.
Why might you want to update your privacy settings?
- If someone is threatening to share your intimate images online
- If you have been victim to 'Sextortion' or blackmail
- If you have had your personal accounts hacked or security compromised
- If someone is harassing you online and you want to limit their view of your profile or ability to contact you
- If, due to your profession or other reason, you want to be more private online
- If you haven’t ever really thought about it or something you’ve just neglected to do
What type of things should I be doing to update my privacy settings?
- Restrict what's accessible to by the public - e.g. make your accounts private to limit content only to be seen by your friends or those who follow you
- Restrict the view of your friend list to 'only me' or 'friends only'
- Make your account as secure as possible - this would mean updating passwords to make them strong and secure and enable two-factor authentication (where available). For more help and advice with this, find the password management guide from SWGfL
- Antivirus - be mindful of your computer health, it’s advised to run regular checks for any suspicious malware on your computer
Where do I go to update my privacy settings on different platforms?
For most of the changes to privacy settings you’ll need to do this on the app or platform itself, but for ease and clarity here are all the links to where you can do this as quickly as possible.
