Facebook reveals ‘Manage Activity’ tool to hide old, embarrassing posts

This illustration picture, taken on January 12, 2020 shows Facebook social network logo reflected on a eye in Rennes, western France (AFP via Getty)

Facebook has revealed a new "Manage Activity" tool to let people more easily hide their old, embarrassing posts.

The feature allows people to put their posts into an archive so that they cannot be seen by others, but in such a way that they are not permanently deleted.

It is aimed at people who have been using the site for some time and who may therefore have a host of old posts on their account that they no longer wish to have publicly available, Facebook said.

Rather than forcing people to remove any such posts – such as old statuses from university, for instance – the new feature lets people archive and remove them, rather than entirely delete them.

Facebook is now more than 15 years old, meaning that many profiles are likely to have photos and statuses from people that were posted many years ago.

In recent times, resurfaced old posts have caused problems for politicians and others whose old opinions and messages have drawn criticism.

The new feature also comes with new tools that allow people to filter their list of posts by person or by date range, letting people search through and then curate those posts.

The feature will initially roll out on the Facebook app for iOS and Android from today, as well as in the Facebook Lite app.

Facebook suggested that more similar features would be coming in the future.