If you're tired of seeing annoying posts in your Facebook Feed – such as clickbait articles, political posts, or disturbing images – there's a simple solution. Facebook offers a way to let you to opt for less of this type of content in your Feed. However, many people are unaware that these controls exist.
Found in your "Content preferences," the "Manage defaults" settings let you adjust the amount of content in your feed for four specific categories:
- Political content: Content about governments, elections, and social topics.
- Low-quality content: This includes spammy posts, clickbait, and videos that loop or are only images.
- Unoriginal content and problematic sharing: Posts from sources that share duplicate content or have a history of unoriginal posts.
- Sensitive content: Sexually suggestive or graphically violent content, as well as posts from repeat violators of Facebook's Community Standards.
You can set Facebook to "Show more," "Default", or "Show Less," depending on the category.
If you haven't managed your settings before, Facebook sets them to "Default" for all users, which should make it less likely you'll encounter low-quality, unoriginal, sensitive, or political content in your Feed. Selecting "Show Less" aims to filter out virtually all of these annoying posts.
I expect no one wants low-quality content, sensitive, and other types of disturbing content filling up their Feed. So, it's not clear why Facebook didn't make "Show Less" the default setting. And why can't we "Show Less" for Political content?
Read more: Facebook Live Videos Will Auto-Delete If You Don't Remember to Save Them
You won't find the Content preferences options on the Facebook website. They're only accessible through the Facebook mobile app's settings menu. To get there, tap the Menu icon, then Privacy & Settings > Settings. Scroll down to the Preferences section and select Content preferences > Manage defaults.
To customize your preferences, tap into each category to make your selection. You can enable stronger filtering for certain categories while leaving others at the default or even opting to see more. The key is choosing the combination that is right for you.
Read more: What is Facebook Account Cloning & What Can You Do about It?
Testing how well this feature works is extremely difficult, since the algorithm that determines our Feed content is based on numerous factors and past interactions. However, any time I can make a few quick tweaks in my Facebook settings to potentially decrease the amount of low-value and false content shown in my Facebook Feed, I consider that a win.
Updated on 4/14/2025 with new content categories and instructions
[Image credit: Screenshot via Techlicious, mockup of phone via Canva]
For the past 20+ years, Techlicious founder Suzanne Kantra has been exploring and writing about the world’s most exciting and important science and technology issues. Prior to Techlicious, Suzanne was the Technology Editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the Senior Technology Editor for Popular Science. Suzanne has been featured on CNN, CBS, and NBC.
From Michelle on April 19, 2024 :: 8:12 pm
I am using Facebook for iPad app and cannot find this.
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