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3 Ways to Stop Instagram From Posting to Facebook

by Gaurav Bidasaria

Facebook and Instagram are both owned by Meta. This is why you see an option to sign in to Instagram using your Facebook credentials. This simple step links both your accounts leading to some side effects like Instagram sharing Posts and Stories along with photos and videos to your Facebook account. Thankfully, you don’t need to unlink the two to stop Instagram from posting photos and videos to Facebook.

Let’s find out how.

Ways to Prevent Instagram from Posting to Facebook

There are three separate ways to do it, each with its merits and demerits.

  • Delink Facebook and Instagram – this will keep the two accounts separate and no updates will be cross-posted. However, you cannot use your Facebook ID to sign into Instagram either.
  • App Settings (Global) – this will not delink your Facebook account with Instagram but will let you choose if you want to stop sharing stories and/or posts from Instagram to Facebook. So you can still sign in using Facebook on Instagram. Suitable for regular users who want to keep their accounts separate.
  • Local Settings (Post-Specific) – this offers more granular control where for every update you post, Instagram will ask if you want to share it on Facebook, or not. More suitable for power users like brands and influencers.

Now that we know our options and what they do, let’s dive deeper and see how these settings work.

1. Delink Facebook and Instagram

As discussed, we will delink Facebook with Instagram for good so the two accounts have nothing to do with each other. No sharing and no caring. The steps are the same for both Android and iOS but I will be using iPhone here as an example. UI may be slightly different.

1. Tap on your profile icon in the bottom bar and select Settings & privacy from the Kebab menu (three-bar icon).

Go to instagram settings and privacy menu

2. Tap on Accounts Center at the top of the screen and select Accounts.

go to instagram accounts center and then accounts

3. Tap on Remove next to the account that you want to delink. Then select Remove account option.

remove account option in instagram for facebook

4. Tap on Continue on the next screen and then select Remove ‘account name’ option. You may be asked to confirm your decision.

confirm decision to delink facebook account from instagram

Your Instagram account is delinked from your Facebook account. Nothing you post on Instagram will be shared on Facebook automatically now. But, you can’t sign in using Facebook credentials either. That means you need to sign in using your email id or number and password instead. If you don’t remember or know Instagram account password, click on Forgot Password and enter your email id.

2. Disable Automatically Sharing Posts, Stories, and Reels

For those who skipped the intro, this method, unlike the previous one, will not delink your Facebook account with Instagram but simply toggle off sharing Instagram posts, stories, and reels to Facebook automatically. The benefit is that you can still use Facebook login credentials to sign in to Instagram without having to worry about Instagram posting to Facebook automatically.

1. Repeat the steps above to open Instagram Settings & privacy from the Kebab menu.

Go to instagram settings and privacy menu

2. Tap on Accounts Center at the bottom of the screen and then select Connected experiences.

go to instagram accounts center and then connected experiences

3. Tap on Sharing across profiles and then select the Instagram account that you want to stop sharing to Facebook.

instagram sharing across profiles option

4. Scroll a little and you will see Automatically share section. Disable Your Instagram story, Your Instagram posts, and Your Instagram reels. Make sure that the correct Facebook profile is selected above that.

disable automatically sharing posts, stories, and reels to facebook from instagram

Note: Facebook has changed the UI options slightly recently. We have updated the post accordingly.

3. Control Sharing on Individual Post/Story Level

Every time you post a Story or add a Post on Instagram, there is a toggle that when enabled, will share the same Story or Post on Facebook too. But for that work, your Instagram account needs to be linked to Facebook. Let’s see where that setting is and how it works.

Sharing Instagram Posts to Facebook

When you begin adding an image or video on Instagram as a post by tapping on the plus icon, you will come across the Share screen right after adding filters and effects. This is where you can toggle off Share to Facebook option. Tap on Advanced Settings to disable Automatically Share option as well if it is enabled by chance.

disable share to facebook option and also disable automatically share option in instagram

Sharing Instagram Stories to Facebook

Similarly, when you are creating a Story on Instagram, you will an option to share the story on Facebook. Tap on Send to and then Share.

instagram story share settings

You can now choose to share your Instagram story on Facebook. If selected, it will be posted on Facebook Story at the same time as Instagram Story.

toggle on/off sharing instagram stories on facebook

Deceptive Design Practices to Lure Users to Opt In

Some websites and apps use deceptive design practices, also known as dark patterns, to trick users into doing things that they otherwise wouldn’t have done. Some examples include opting into a newsletter, connecting one app with another, giving permissions when they are not needed, installing secondary apps, and so on. An FTC report shows a rise in sophisticated dark patterns designed to trick and trap consumers.

So how is Meta using dark patterns to connect your Facebook account with your Instagram account? Let’s take an example.

Some time ago, Meta started displaying a prompt where users were encouraged to share their Instagram post and photos on Facebook. Here is how they used dark patterns here.

A big blue button was shown that said Share posts and stories. Below that, in small fonts, read a clickable text that sayid Not now. Here is how it looked:

instagram prompt asking users to share posts on facebook

This is a good example of using UI to trick users. Most users would tap on the big blue button and quickly move on. Many would think that the text button is not clickable at all because it is in small fonts and doesn’t even look like a button. Once the user opts in, they begin to see their photos and videos posted on Instagram being shared on Facebook automatically.

Once you have made sure that Instagram is no longer posting to Facebook by following one of the methods above, look out for deceptive design hiding options and settings in the UI. Don’t tap too fast but spend a moment and read what you are being shown on the screen.

Story of Instagram and Facebook

You have complete control over how and if your Instagram posts and/or stories are also shared on Facebook. You can choose to delink the two accounts completely, disable cross-platform sharing without delinking for all posts and stories, and control posting to Facebook for individual posts and stories.

Don’t like what you posted? Here’s how you can bulk delete posts on Instagram. A better alternative is to save posts and stories as drafts for later perusal rather than making them live immediately in the heat of the moment.

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