TL;DR
These cookies are used for tracking and targeted advertising. You can remove them from your browser settings to stop this behaviour. Here’s how.
Removing Facebook ‘fr’ and ‘sb’ Cookies: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Understand the Cookies
- fr: This cookie identifies your Facebook account to websites outside of Facebook that have a Facebook Share Button or similar. It allows Facebook to track your activity on those sites.
- sb: This cookie is used for targeted advertising and tracking conversions after clicking Facebook ads.
- Find Your Browser Settings
The location of these settings varies depending on your browser. Here are instructions for common browsers:- Google Chrome: Click the three dots (menu) in the top-right corner > Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data
- Mozilla Firefox: Click the three horizontal lines (menu) in the top-right corner > Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data
- Microsoft Edge: Click the three dots (menu) in the top-right corner > Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Choose what to clear > Cookies and other site data
- Safari: Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data
- Search for the Cookies
In your browser’s cookie settings, there will usually be a search box. Type ‘facebook’ into this box.
- Remove the Cookies
- You should see entries for both fr and sb (and potentially other Facebook cookies).
- Select each cookie individually or select all Facebook cookies.
- Click the ‘Remove’ or ‘Delete’ button to remove them. The exact wording will depend on your browser.
- Clear Cache (Recommended)
Clearing your browser cache along with the cookies ensures that any old data associated with Facebook is also removed.
- In Chrome, within Cookies and other site data, click ‘See all site data’ then select ‘Remove All’.
- In Firefox, within Cookies and Site Data, click ‘Clear Data…’ then check both ‘Cookies and Site Data’ and ‘Cached Web Content’ before clicking ‘Clear’.
- Prevent Future Cookies (Optional)
You can configure your browser to block Facebook cookies entirely or to automatically delete them when you close the browser.
- In Chrome, within Cookies and other site data, you can ‘Block third-party cookies’ or ‘Clear cookies and site data when you quit Chrome’.
- In Firefox, within Enhanced Tracking Protection, set it to ‘Strict’.