{"id":206846,"date":"2022-11-21T11:36:24","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T10:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=206846"},"modified":"2025-07-01T20:19:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T03:19:57","slug":"facebook-removes-outdated-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-removes-outdated-fields\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook removes outdated fields like religion, political views and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meta, the owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a>, has announced a change to<strong> users\u2019 personal information<\/strong> that\u2019s long overdue. The social media giant announced they\u2019d be <strong>removing four fields<\/strong> from Facebook\u2019s personal information section from next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The four fields that will be removed include <strong>address, political view, religious views, and sexual preferences<\/strong>, known as \u2018Interested In\u2019 on the platform. Users who have any of these fields completed on their profile will <strong>receive a message<\/strong> from the platform, similar to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattNavarra\/status\/1592886209315246082\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this one<\/a> shared by Social Media Specialist Matt Navarra.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Facebook is removing religious views and \u2018interested in\u2019 info from profiles from 1 December 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SKjSrtwUwm\">pic.twitter.com\/SKjSrtwUwm<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattNavarra\/status\/1592886209315246082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 16, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the messages, users will be informed that these fields will be<strong> removed from December 1st<\/strong>, 2022. A link will also be available for users to download their profiles if they need to before these fields are removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many users wonder <strong>why it\u2019s taken the platform this long<\/strong> to remove, as most of its competitors, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/tik-tok.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"TikTok\">TikTok<\/a>, don\u2019t require this in-depth personal information. While some users enjoy <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.en.softonic.com\/articles\/meta-warns-facebook-users-fake-apps-stealing-passwords\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"adding more information\">adding more information<\/a> to their profiles, others prefer to <strong>protect their privacy<\/strong> and leave these fields unanswered.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A spokesperson for Facebook explained that they\u2019re removing these fields to make it <strong>easier for users <\/strong>to<a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.en.softonic.com\/articles\/meta-new-text-to-video-ai-facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\" navigate the platform\"> navigate the platform<\/a>. They also expressed that, should users want to share this information, there are still other ways to do so elsewhere on the platform.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, removing these outdated fields seems to be a move from Facebook to <strong>streamline its processes<\/strong>. We can\u2019t help but wonder if removing these fields will <strong>make that much of a difference<\/strong> to the app\u2019s processes, but maybe it\u2019s more centered on privacy. After all, these aren\u2019t the only <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/meta-is-now-cutting-services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">changes being made to their services<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"351\" height=\"321\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Meta-facebook-removes-fields-2.jpg\" alt=\"Meta facebook removes fields 2\" class=\"wp-image-206851\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Meta-facebook-removes-fields-2.jpg 351w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Meta-facebook-removes-fields-2-300x274.jpg 300w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Meta-facebook-removes-fields-2-13x12.jpg 13w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Meta-facebook-removes-fields-2-150x137.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 351px) 100vw, 351px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The platform no longer <strong>uses these fields for ad targeting<\/strong> as of January 2022, which the platform removed to align better with Europe\u2019s GDPR. This information might still be visible to others and can be collected in other ways and used for targeting by third parties. It can also be a <strong>way for individual users or groups to target<\/strong> and belittle others if they disagree with their sexuality, political, or religious views. So it\u2019s a move we respect, even if a little overdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This news follows the announcement of<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/meta-is-on-a-firing-spree\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>layoffs of 11 000 Meta workers<\/strong><\/a> last week. With 13% of its workforce gone, it\u2019s understandable that the platform wants to <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.en.softonic.com\/articles\/meta-over-extending-metaverse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"streamline processes\">streamline processes<\/a> as much as possible. We look forward to seeing what <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.en.softonic.com\/articles\/facebook-is-adding-reels-to-groups\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"other changes\">other changes<\/a> they make amidst their recent difficulties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has announced a change to users\u2019 personal information that\u2019s long overdue. The social media giant announced they\u2019d be removing four fields from Facebook\u2019s personal information section from next month. The four fields that will be removed include address, political view, religious views, and sexual preferences, known as &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-removes-outdated-fields\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Facebook removes outdated fields like religion, political views and more&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9221,"featured_media":206850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-206846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322895,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206846\/revisions\/322895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206846"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=206846"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=206846"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=206846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}