You can review tags before they show on your profile, or approve them after the fact
Facebook lets you control which tags appear on your profile in two ways. You can turn on tag review, which holds every tag in a queue until you approve it — nothing shows publicly until you say yes. Or you can leave tags to post immediately, then remove ones you don't want later. Most people use tag review because it stops unwanted tags from appearing in the first place, even briefly.
The choice is yours, and you can change it anytime. Tag review is in your privacy settings, takes about 30 seconds to turn on, and works across all tags — from friends, from strangers, from business pages, from anywhere on Facebook.
Key Takeaways
- Tag review holds all tags in a pending queue until you approve them, so nothing appears on your profile without your permission.
- You turn on tag review in Settings & Privacy, then Settings, then Privacy, under "Who can tag you in posts?"
- When someone tags you, you get a notification and can approve it, delete it, or ignore it — ignored tags disappear after 30 days.
- You can also remove tags after they post by clicking the tag, selecting "Remove Tag", and choosing whether to notify the person who tagged you.
- Tag review does not stop people from mentioning your name in text — it only controls photo and post tags that link to your profile.
How to turn on tag review in your privacy settings
Open Facebook and click the downward arrow in the top right corner. Select Settings & Privacy, then Settings. On the left side, click Privacy. Scroll down to the section labeled "How people can interact with you" and find the line that says "Who can tag you in posts?"
Click that line. You will see two options: "Everyone" or "Friends". If you choose "Friends", only your friends can tag you — strangers cannot. Below that, you will see a checkbox that says "Review tags people add to your posts before the tags appear on your profile." Check that box. Now every tag goes into a pending queue, and you control what shows.
Facebook saves this setting automatically. You do not need to click a separate "Save" button. The change takes effect right away for new tags.
What happens when someone tags you with review turned on
When a friend or anyone else tags you in a photo or post, you get a notification — usually within a few minutes. The notification says something like "Sarah tagged you in a photo." You can click that notification to see the tag and decide whether to approve it.
When you open the tag, you have three choices: approve it, delete it, or do nothing. If you approve it, the tag appears on your profile and the person who tagged you sees it posted. If you delete it, the tag is removed and the person who tagged you does not get a notification that you rejected it — it simply does not appear. If you do nothing, the tag sits in your pending queue for 30 days, then disappears automatically.
You can also manage all pending tags in one place. Go to your profile, click the three dots in the top right, select "See your posts", then look for the "Pending" section. Any tags waiting for your approval show there, and you can approve or delete them all from that view.
How to remove a tag that already posted
If you turned off tag review or if a tag slipped through, you can still remove it. Go to the photo or post where the tag appears. Hover over or click on the tag itself — it usually shows as a name or a box around a person's face. A menu will pop up with the option "Remove Tag". Click that.
After you remove the tag, Facebook asks if you want to notify the person who tagged you. You can choose to tell them or not. If you tell them, they see a message that you removed the tag. If you do not notify them, they will not know unless they go back to look at the post and notice the tag is gone.
Removing a tag does not delete the photo or post itself — it only removes the link from that tag to your profile. The photo stays on the other person's profile or in the album where they posted it.
The difference between tag review and other privacy controls
Tag review controls only tags — the clickable links that connect a photo or post to your profile. It does not stop people from typing your name in a comment or caption. If someone writes "Great to see you, Sarah!" in a post, that is text, not a tag, and tag review does not affect it.
Tag review also does not control who can see the photo or post itself. If your friend posts a photo of you and tags you, their privacy settings determine who sees that photo — not your tag review setting. If they posted it publicly, the photo is public even if you delete the tag. You can ask them to change the post's privacy or to delete the photo, but tag review only removes your name from it.
If you want to control who can see posts you are tagged in, that is a separate setting. Go to Privacy settings and look for "Who can see posts you are tagged in?" You can choose "Public", "Friends", "Friends except", or "Only me". This setting hides the post from people you do not want to see it, but it does not remove the tag itself.
When tag review does not work the way you expect
Tag review only works on Facebook itself. If someone tags you in a photo on Instagram and you have linked your Instagram and Facebook accounts, that tag may not go through the same review process. Check your Instagram privacy settings separately if you use both platforms.
Tag review also does not apply to comments. If someone tags you in a comment by typing @yourname, you get a notification but tag review does not hold it. You can turn off comment notifications in your notification settings if you want fewer alerts.
If you have a business page or a public figure page, tag review works differently. Those pages have their own moderation tools. Check your page settings under "Settings" and then "Moderation" to see options for reviewing tags on your business page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I approve tags on photos I did not post?
Yes. Tag review applies to any photo or post where someone tags you, whether you posted it or someone else did. You control whether the tag appears on your profile, regardless of who owns the original photo.
What if I turn on tag review after tags are already posted?
Tags that already appear on your profile stay there. Tag review only affects new tags going forward. You can remove old tags manually by clicking on them and selecting "Remove Tag".
Do people know when I delete their tag?
Only if you choose to notify them. When you remove a tag, Facebook asks if you want to tell the person. If you say no, they will not receive a notification — they will only know if they go back and see the tag is missing.
Can I turn on tag review for just certain people?
No. Tag review is all-or-nothing in Facebook's current settings. If you turn it on, all tags go to your queue. You cannot set it to review only tags from strangers or only tags in photos. You can only choose whether friends can tag you separately from everyone else.
What happens to pending tags after 30 days?
They disappear from your queue automatically. The person who tagged you does not get a notification that the tag expired. If they want you tagged in that photo, they would have to tag you again.