Short answer
Open Settings and privacy > Privacy and safety to control who sees your posts, who can tag and message you, whether people can find you by email or phone, how X uses your data for ads and AI, and what you see.
Key takeaways
- Protect your posts to limit them to approved followers.
- Turn off discoverability by email and phone if you don't want to be found.
- Check the data sharing and Grok settings: some are on by default.
X's privacy settings are spread across a dozen screens. This guide goes through the ones that matter, in the order you'll find them under Settings and privacy > Privacy and safety.
Who can see my posts?
Everyone, unless you turn on Protect your posts.
Audience and tagging > Protect your posts. With it on, only approved followers see your posts; posts don't appear in public search and can't be reposted. Also here: Photo tagging (who can tag you in images: everyone, people you follow, or no one). See locked vs protected accounts.
Who can find and contact me?
Discoverability controls email and phone lookup; Direct messages controls who can message you.
- Discoverability and contacts: turn off "Let people who have your email address find you" and the phone equivalent if you don't want to be found that way. Remove synced contacts here too.
- Direct messages: allow messages from everyone, verified users or nobody beyond people you follow, and filter low-quality messages.
- Mute and block: manage muted accounts, muted words and blocked accounts.
Note that since November 2024 a blocked account can still see your public posts; it just can't reply, follow or interact. If that matters, protect your posts.
What does X know and share about me?
Ad personalization, data sharing with partners, location and AI training each have their own switches.
| Setting | Where | What to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Personalized ads | Ads preferences | Off means ads are less targeted, not fewer |
| Inferred identity | Data sharing and personalization | Links your account to devices you haven't logged in from |
| Data sharing with business partners | Data sharing and personalization | Off stops some sharing beyond X |
| Location information | Data sharing and personalization | Controls use of places you've been for personalization |
| Grok | Data sharing and personalization | Whether your public data trains X's AI |
What about my likes and activity?
Likes are private since June 2024; Highlights, bookmarks and Lists you make private stay private.
Others can still see your posts, replies, reposts and public Lists. Your bookmarks are always private.
How do I clean up what I see?
Muted words, notification filters and the "not interested" option shape your timeline.
Mute words or phrases for a set time or forever; filter notifications to people you follow; and use "Not interested in this post" on things you don't want more of. To deal with specific people, see how to remove followers.
Questions people ask
Are my likes public on X?
No. Since June 2024, likes are private. Only you can see the posts you've liked; authors can see who liked their own posts.
Can I stop X from using my posts to train Grok?
X added a setting under Privacy and safety > Data sharing and personalization > Grok to opt out of your public posts and interactions being used for training. Check that it's set the way you want.
Who can see my location?
Only if you add it. Precise location on posts is off by default; the location field on your profile is free text.