Does Facebook Notify If Screenshots Are Taken?
Screenshots. We all do it. It's a useful way of making sure you don't forget that recipe you found online, or make sure an article doesn't disappear when a website goes down. For many of us, however, screenshots are synonymous with social media. After all, screenshots are the biggest source of gossip. If you want to show your friends the embarrassing conversation you had with a co-worker or tell your family about the latest gossip from your cousins, a screenshot is the start of many conversations. Plus, every device allows for screenshots, from your Android phone to your Windows PC and even your Kindle.
Of course, screenshots are a big no-no in terms of privacy, since you can't control who takes screenshots of your content or how it is shared. Thankfully, some social media sites, like Snapchat, have made the good choice of notifying users when screenshots are taken of their content.
But what about Facebook? After all, the Meta flagship is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, the one your aunties go to for gossip and your uncles go to for conspiracy theories. Do they notify you if someone screenshots your embarrassing rants or your chats?
Does Facebook notify you about screenshots?
Unfortunately for those concerned with privacy, none of Meta's platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram inform you when a screenshot is taken regardless if it's a chat or a post. Once you share something on one of these platforms, everyone else is free to save a screenshot and share it however they so choose.
There is, however, a way to get a bit more privacy, at least on Facebook Messenger. You can opt to enter encrypted chats when chatting with someone, which enables disappearing messages in Messenger. These disappear after 24 hours and you do get a notification when someone takes a screenshot.
To enable disappearing messages, you should:
- Open a chat on Messenger.
- At the top right corner, click the Info button
- Go down and click on Go to secret conversation
- Again go to the Info button
- Go down and click on Disappearing Messages
Now, messages in the encrypted conversations will disappear after 24 hours, and you will get a notification when someone screenshots the conversation. It's not a perfect solution, but it's an improvement. Make note, however, that posts are still very much public and subject to notification, as are regular chats.