Can’t find someone on Facebook? See how to find out if the profile was deleted or disabled or if you were blocked on the social network
If you can’t locate someone’s Facebook profile, it’s possible that they deleted or deactivated their account, or that you were blocked by them. Fortunately, there are some tips that help you identify which of these cases fits you.
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How to know if someone deleted or deactivated their profile
There is no exact way to know if someone deleted their Facebook account or if they just temporarily disabled their presence on the platform. If the person has changed their username, this also makes it difficult to find the profile again.
However, there are some clues that help you understand what might have happened if you noticed that a person’s profile no longer exists on Facebook or that the number of friends dropped unexpectedly.
Search for the person on Facebook
The first step in determining whether you can still find a person’s profile on Facebook is to perform a search for their name in the platform’s search bar.
If the profile is not found, it is likely that it has been deleted. However, if you find the person’s profile, but receive the message “Sorry, this content is currently unavailable” when you access it, it may be that you have been blocked or the account has been deactivated.
Note that the person may also have changed their Facebook privacy settings so they don’t appear in search suggestions for other people. Therefore, this form does not provide certainty as to why the profile is not visible to you.
Check conversations in Messenger
If you’ve had conversations with the person on Facebook Messenger, you can check their message history. If her profile picture still appears in the conversation, but you can access her profile or send new messages, it’s a sign that you’ve been blocked.
Now, if the person has deactivated or deleted their Facebook account, their photo and name will no longer be visible in the conversation. Instead, the name “Facebook user” with your profile picture or blank is displayed. It is worth mentioning that only the blank photo is not a confirmation that the account has been deactivated.
See list of mutual friends
Someone else’s friend list can serve as the basis for identifying a Facebook profile. To do this, just visit a mutual friend, open the friends list and search for someone specific. If you cannot find it, it is likely that the profile has been removed from the platform.
This method also works if one of your friends hides their friends list, as you can still see their mutual friends on Facebook.
Check the blocked list
The list of users you’ve blocked on Facebook can help you identify if someone has blocked your account or deleted your profile. To learn how this process works, follow the steps below and a computer or mobile app:
- Access the Facebook Settings menu;
- Select the “Blocked” section;
- Press the “Add to Blocked List” option and search for the person you suspect has blocked you or deleted the profile.
If you find the person’s name, they may have blocked your Facebook profile; otherwise, if you can’t find someone’s account, it’s highly likely that they have deactivated or deleted their account on the social network.
And if you want to search for other people on an alternate profile, you can learn how to log into another Facebook account without logging out.
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