How do I delete a comment on my Facebook wall?

I really love Facebook and have lots of fun with my friends in that universe. Every so often, however, I get a weird, creepy or unpleasant comments left on my Wall. I don't like it, but do I just have to live with it forever or can I delete it, even if they don't want me to do so?

Dave's Answer:

Y'know, while some people are vocal proponents of keeping everything pristine, never deleting any comments, weird messages, odd wall entries, or anything else, I'm definitely not in that camp. If someone comes onto my profile and writes something I find objectionable, something that is going to cast me in an unflattering light or - worse - is just blatantly wrong, I don't want to have to defend myself on my profile! so I have no compunction deleting Facebook Wall messages, comments, or anything else that I feel sullies my online world.

In the blogging world, of course, you would have a commenting policy where, for example, you might state that spam and unrelated comments are automatically deleted but everything else is fair game and will be retained, though you reserve the right to rebut.

Facebook's another universe, so I'll let you make your own decisions!

For this example, I asked my pal Shama Hyder to leave me a goofy message on my Wall so I could demonstrate the steps needed. Here's what she left:

She admits that she's a big fan of good quality chocolate, so this isn't too off-the-wall (so to speak!) but let's delete it anyway. Sorry Shama.

To axe a comment, the easiest way is to click on "Wall" immediately after their name in the status area. It'll take you to your Wall where each entry has a bit more information:

Notice this time that there's a small, subtle "Delete" link adjacent to the comment. That's what you want to click:

Ayup, sorry, Shama, I do want to delete this comment, so I click on "Delete" and *poof* that entry on my Wall is removed.

I hope this helps. I'd also like to let you know that I have quite a bit of Facebook help here on the site and that I also have an Ask Dave Taylor Facebook Fan Page that I invite you to join.

Categorized: Facebook Help (Article 8545, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: blogging, censorship, editing, facebook
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Comments

Just a quick question for you - when someone has left a comment and you delete it, can it still be visable to your freinds. For instance, if I recieve a comment on a post, do freinds get those comments displayed somewhere that is not immediately effected by me deleting the comment?

Probably a horribly constructed question, but you can email for clarification. Thanks.

Posted by: Shane at June 24, 2009 3:12 AM

I wrote on someone's public FB page (thought I was writing a personal message) and REALLY need to remove it. How can I do this?

Posted by: Liz at June 26, 2009 10:21 PM

Liz, if you don't see an "Edit" or "Delete" link near your comment, you might - I'm sorry to say - be out of luck. So sorry!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at June 26, 2009 10:46 PM

Thanks for the very helpful information.

Posted by: Bernie Misiura at August 21, 2009 6:07 AM

Nice tips.

Posted by: jake at August 23, 2009 10:23 AM

How do I delete unwanted comments from Facebook???!!! (I have an Apple) There is no icon or setting to do that. where is it, Dave? Tnx
Tom

Posted by: Thomas McCormack at October 30, 2009 10:18 PM

how to delete all posts from facebook wall, all in once?

Posted by: dear man! at December 17, 2009 9:18 AM

how to i get back deleted messages on facebook??

Posted by: xyz at January 13, 2010 11:37 PM

I have upload one video on my Facebook and i want to remove on my wall. So i click on "remove" and in Delete Post, i click "Delete", but i cannot "Delete", messages pops up is (Failure to hide minifeed story) and (failed to minifeed story) so i click "okay". How do i delete on my facebook wall.

Thank you.

Posted by: Gio at February 5, 2010 8:22 PM

I cannot seem to remove my own posts from my wall. I have done so in the past, but for about a week I am unable to. I get the same "Failure to hide minifeed story" error message.

And I'm not the only one. Pages of comments on FB's pages re this.

Help!

Posted by: skewchas at February 18, 2010 8:30 PM

Me too! I can't seem to remove posts from my wall. "Failed to hide minifeed story." error message.

Posted by: Celso Juan at March 6, 2010 2:20 AM

I would like to delete Videos posted on my account by others.

Posted by: Nick Helewa at March 13, 2010 10:37 AM

How is this done via Facebook Mobile?

Posted by: Rene at March 23, 2010 3:36 PM

what is scary is that even if you delete all the posts on you wall they keep reappearing after awhile, at least on my profile.

Posted by: someone at March 23, 2010 4:31 PM

Recent studies show that the phrase "delete facebook account" is being entered 110,000 times a month in google.com alone...big topic recently...

Posted by: Antonio at May 13, 2010 1:26 PM

This did not work for me. I tried every possible thing to delete a wall post on my wall but did not find any option to delete that post.

Could you please help[ me here.

Many Thanks

Posted by: GS at May 14, 2010 4:10 AM

Facebook has changed so many settings for privacy that I do not know how to make these changes.. I no longer want it shown on my wall who I am friends with or whose status I have commented on sohow do I change the privacy setting so that these two items no longer show on my wall?

I have also been trying to delete the posts on my wall that say I am now friends with so and so and it just keeps coming up failed to hide mini feed story..

Posted by: Ruth at June 16, 2010 7:14 AM

I found that if you are on your Wall, click the Wall-To-Wall link for the post in question. When the comment appears click the link that tells when the post was made. This will open the post in a new window. Now if you hover right under the Options button a REMOVE button will appear. This should remove the post. As easy as 1-2-3, right?

Posted by: Paul Howe at July 24, 2010 1:12 PM

THANK YOU. After clicking on the name in the message -to the right came up OPTIONS and then by hoovering my mouse - REMOVE - button appears.
click on that and window pops up and asks --really? and you click yes.

Posted by: julia at July 28, 2010 9:17 PM

I just CAN'T get rid of some posts on my Page. I can't Delete their messages (there's no Delete choice). I have Flagged them but they still appear. I have Banned them too and reported them but the same spam/ junk still comes back.

Posted by: Ian at September 22, 2010 5:32 AM

I posted a post on my own wall and went to edit it and found out I can neither edit nor delete it. How do I change (even if I have to delete and repost an edited version) of my own post on my own wall???

Posted by: ageofknowledge at October 10, 2010 3:30 PM

I was worried about a comment that was left on my facebook page.I noticed that if my mouse hovered over the right top corner of the words left there was a blue X that came up. If you click on that it will come up saying "remove". Click on that and the comment will go away.

Posted by: Rebecca at November 2, 2010 12:06 AM

How do I delete or edit my own post...not a comment to a post...but my own post (status update) on facebook. For some reason when I attelpted to 'share' a video embedded in a NYT article to my facebook page, it appeared three times.

Silly irritation to see this and not find a way to delete the two extra ones. Thanks!

Posted by: laura at November 13, 2010 10:51 AM

hello,i wounder if you could help me,a couple of days ago i changed my status to singal were it appeard on my wall with comments,i left it on their so my friends could see it but looking at it now the status and comments have gone!would you be able to tell me how i could get it back if i have deleted it?thank you.

Posted by: jean at November 23, 2010 5:35 PM

Ok.. so I had the same problem.. after reading these posts, I clicked and hovered, but no luck. Eventually, I hovered in what WOULD be the top right corner of the post (if the post had some sort of border arounnd it). Then the blue "X" popped up, then I could delete. Hope this helps.

Posted by: Rich at December 11, 2010 9:26 AM

Thanks !

Posted by: Alexander at February 12, 2011 9:38 AM

I wrote a tool to help with this exact problem. Check out http://fufb.me/ and sign up for the beta if you are interested. It not only deletes posts from your page that match particular keywords or date ranges, but it will delete your posts from your friends pages that meet the same criteria, along with comments or likes you may have made on others’ posts.

Posted by: FUFB at March 22, 2011 9:54 AM

I am having "?fb_xd_fragment=" or "?fb_comment_id=fbc_" ext on my analytics...

How Can I get rid of these +extensions to URL via facebook ?

thanks

Posted by: Kusadasi at May 25, 2011 7:18 AM

I have tried to PERMANENTLY HIDE News Feed Posts, & I cannot do it! I click on the "X" in the upper-right corner & then click on "Hide Post" and it's gone temporarily, but as soon as I leave Facebook, ALL THE POSTS I'VE "HID" RE-APPEAR! Please Help!
Debbie

Posted by: Debbie at June 29, 2011 10:15 PM

My brother in law had a most weird message from his facebook onto some elses wall that said soem really disgracful things .. I phoned him immediately and he absolutley swears He never put this message there .. How did it get there? was his site hacked??????????

Posted by: Terry at July 7, 2011 1:31 PM

on facebook i try to delete older postings--i click on hide and it removes what i want. i go see another site then return to my wall and everything is back that i removed. why? how can i remove something and keep it hidden.

Posted by: roger coutts at July 21, 2011 2:34 PM

Delte my wall posts

Posted by: myra at September 2, 2011 8:03 PM

This is all well and good, but how do you do it from the Facebook MOBILE site or mobile app? There's no delete option ANYWHERE!

Posted by: Matt at September 6, 2011 3:11 AM

REMOVE COMMENT BY CLICKING YOUR FRIENDS ICON ON THE SIDE (REMOVE POST)

Posted by: MICHAEL at September 30, 2011 9:21 AM

hi pls help: i recently made a setting so that comments i make dont appear on my wall..i need to change it bak so comments i make appear on my wall..i cant find the setting- were is it plss?

Posted by: yoyo at October 10, 2011 1:32 PM

how to delete myown photo

Posted by: david arnold at November 2, 2011 8:08 AM

So, I know how to delete comments (my own or otherwise)...my question is: What happens when you do delete a comment that someone wrote? Do they get a notification that you deleted their comment? Or is Facebook discreet about that??

Posted by: Jodie at December 1, 2011 8:30 AM

Pretty darn sure that they don't get a notification, Jodie, but if you want, like our Facebook fan page, then leave a comment, asking me to delete it. I will, and you'll see if you get a notification or not. :-)

http://facebook.com/askdavetaylor

Posted by: Dave Taylor at December 1, 2011 9:18 AM

I would love to delete a post I made re "Laura is pulling an all-nighter...." She asked me to take it off and I can't.

Anne Johnson
Potsdam, NY 13676

Posted by: Anne Johnson at December 6, 2011 4:13 PM

THERE IS NO DELETE CHOICE

HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS PERSON'S COMMENT ON MY WALL WITHOUT UNFRIENDING OR UNSUBSCRIBING.
I JUST WANT THE ONE COMMENT REMOVED.

THANK YOU

Posted by: Catherine Karnow at December 25, 2011 7:13 AM

If I unfriend someone on Facebook, will their comments and "likes" be automatically deleted from my wall?

Posted by: Charlie at December 28, 2011 5:56 PM

I want to remove my own post on my facebook wall. No delet shown

Posted by: Oguguom Kenneth at January 11, 2012 4:47 PM

UPDATE THIS DAVE PLEASE...THERE IS NO DELETE ANYMORE

Posted by: anon at January 23, 2012 4:01 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!