How To Stop People From Adding You To Facebook Groups
One of the dumbest ideas ever on Facebook is that friends can automatically add you to groups. I'm not sure why Facebook thinks that giving friends the power to add you to any group out there is a good idea, but the feature is there and it is actively used. So, if you ever wanted to create a I'm the Greatest group and invite all your friends to it, then this is your chance to do just that. Your friends will be automatically added to the new group, and it is up to them to either try and get out of the group again or participate in it.
It is not really clear why they are not sending out invitations instead, which would give every friend the choice to either join the new group or ignore the invite to not join the group.
It is apparently only possible to invite friends into new Facebook groups. If you visit an old group page on Facebook you will see the following paragraph at the top.
Over the next few months, Facebook will be archiving all groups created using the old groups format. When this group is archived, its wall posts, photos and discussion threads will move to the new groups format, but group members will need to be re-added.
The new Group page it links to offers little information about the new group concept on Facebook. It is only possible to automatically add friends to new groups on Facebook. The old concept was to send friends invitations if you wanted them to join a group on Facebook.
The new group concept is obviously flawed, considering that the majority of Facebook users are not only friends with their closest friends and relatives, but with many different users of the social networking site.
This may open the door for spam or even malicious attacks in form of phishing links or software downloads. It does not necessarily have to go that far, but being a member of a group that you do not want to be part of may be be reason enough to be against the new group concept.
How can you stop people from adding you to Facebook Groups automatically? The short answer is, you cannot. The only option you have is to leave the group and contact the friend to let them know that you do not want to be part of the group. If you get re-added, your only option is to leave again and / or remove the friend who has added you from the friend list.
Here is how you leave groups. Click on Groups on your Facebook profile page. The groups link is located near the top right corner of the page.
There you see a list of all groups that you are a member of. To leave a group, hover your mouse cursor over the group. A blue x is displayed next to the group. Click on the x to leave the group.
You will get a remove group membership confirmation prompt. Select Remove if you are sure and want to leave the selected group on Facebook.
Have you been added by friends to groups automatically? How have you handled this?
Update: Some users think that this article is misleading, as it is not answering the question they came here for. Here are several options that users in the comments have pointed out:
- You cannot be re-added to groups if you leave them, so this might help. Update: Facebook displays a check box nowadays that you need to check to avoid being added to the group again. Check the "prevent other members from adding you back to this Group" box before you hit the leave group button.
- You can create or subscribe to a lot of bogus / empty groups to reach the group limit. Once you do you cannot be added anymore to new groups.
- And finally: Communicate with those friends that add you to group ans see if you can get them to stop adding you to groups. If you cannot, you should consider unfriending then on Facebook as they cannot add you to groups if they are no longer your friend.
There you have it. Three perfectly fine answers for the issue at hand. It would obviously be better if Facebook would give users an option to accept or decline group invites, but since that is not an option right now, your only bets are the options listed above.
Hi Martin … I see this thread goes back to 2011 and the various Facebook interfaces have changed from your great original article. There no longer seems to be any way to tell specifically which ‘friend’ is adding me randomly to various groups. Worse, once I’m added – unless I catch it in time – it/they then somehow use my profile to then spam those same groups – ruining my reputation and sometimes getting me banned/suspended. So how do I find out in 2019 who/what is adding me to these groups without my consent? And how are they able to use my profile to post spam? It’s ridiculous and appears unstoppable.
I’ve changed my password! I’ve added two-factor authentication. And I’ve tried to figure out who/what is doing this to me with NO success.
Since I can’t prevent being added by a ‘friend’ I need to at least be able to see the ‘person’ who is actually adding me – which doesn’t seem possible either.
Every day I’m leaving groups – usually before the spam appears. But sometimes it’s too late and I get a lot of pissed off people rightfully hating on me for something that I didn’t do. Please help!!!!!
PS. I’ve posted my complaint on the Facebook forum if you want to also add an answer there too please: https://www.facebook.com/help/community/question/?id=1157537421085157
How do I stop the invite spam from a hater that I can’t seem to block for some reason? It’s ridiculously tedious clicking the little “don’t add me again” box, then the leave group button dozens of times a day.
Ridiculous article. The title says” hey man Ill show you how to stop being added to fb grps”
Instead I have to wade through your intellectual swamp. And still havent been shown the proper way to do this… All I need is instructions not an ebook on how smart you want everyone to think you are. Stay simple for stupid. Nice rank 1 btw
Whether you’re too proud or arrogant to admit you purposely titled this article what you did to get people searching for a REAL solution is misleading or not, IT IS. We searched for the solution to make it so people CANNOT add you to groups. You gave us the answer “How to make it so you can’t be added to A SPECIFIC GROUP once you’ve ALREADY BEEN ADDED and you leave the group.”
Two totally different questions and two totally different solutions, and the one which we were hoping for is not here. Enjoy your shameless clickbait ad-revenue stream though.
When they add you to their group without your permission…
Add them to THIS group without their permission “I am an asshole who adds people to groups without permission”.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Imanasshole/
And see if they do it again…
Completely Useless article that does NOT stop people from adding you. The closest this does is stop from RE-ADDING you. But that is not what the title says. New groups are added every single day. Just useless
It is 2016 and s the same.problem. btw people already know that they can’t stop it. Your title is still misleading so I’m guessing you’re just an ass trying to get views or probably dead. So you know what? I got a good news for you. I am going to waste your time too if you ever read this comment. He he he dog cat mouse bird whatever what when where whenever. Thanks again for reading. More power to you and your post.
They know that it pisses people off and they’re doing it deliberately in order to force everyone to switch over to Chrome which is the ONLY browser that has an app that blocks people from adding you to groups (IN facebook). DO NOT switch to Chrome unless you like having spyware installed on your system without your permission (which is capable of listening in on conversations that take place anywhere near your computer; using the computers microphone). Look it up if you don’t believe me, and also look up facebook & Googles connections to the CIA/NSA. Snopes is complete bullshit (they’re saying there’s no connection) because it has been OFFICIAL US GOVERNMENT POLICY since 1998 – as of the publication of Presidential Decision Directive 63 (PDD63). Look it up and see for yourself.
Go to the group you were added to and click the info button. Then scroll to the very bottom of of group info and click leave group. The click more options and the click leave group permenantly.
Done. You cannot be re-added to that group.
I know how to make it so when you leave the group, they cannot re-add you to the group.
The title is fine. It lead to this article that answered to my question, which is ‘you cant’. So the correct question is for Facebook, why don’t they remove this feature.
This article didn’t help one bit. The problem is, why does my friends automatically add me up to groups without them knowing? And when they add me up, I automatically add other friends too? How do I stop that? What you wrote in this article was I should unfriend them. Then there would be nothing left with my friends. Is that what you mean? What a HECK!
This is the problem with Facebook. If they keep on requesting you to improve your security then why didn’t they Add security to prevent others and other people you don’t know to just add you in a group… This really does irritate me, I have to monitor my account just to see who keeps on adding me without my permission…
Oh no… i think i can STOP them.. :(
Actually once you leave a group it doesn’t stop them from readding you. As I’ve left a group and keep getting readded to it… Chewy is wrong
it is possible to prevent from reading and this is how: while still joined, report a group, say it’s inappropriate or something like that, and only after Facebook will ask you if you want to leave group and prevent from re-adding.
Unfortunately, when you leave a group you can be re-added. I left a group I was randomly added to and within 24 hours the administrator for that fb group added me again. I left the group for a second time. Haven’t been added again but I’m not sure if that’s because my friend took the hint or of re-adding me to the group was blocked.
I keep seeing articles incorrectly stating how to prevent users from re-adding you to groups. There is a way (as of now, not sure if this is a new feature). You have to do it through the web site, not the mobile app.
Here’s how: Log onto the web site, Go to the group page, Select the Option to Leave the Group, Click the Checkbox on the bottom left of the message box that says “prevent other members from re-adding me to this group”
Hope that helps.
Johnny thanks for mentioning that. This option has been around for some time. The problem is that spammers will add you to another group they create, and then another, and so on.
4½ years later and the headline is still misleading.
This is ridiculous. People should not be forced into leaving groups that friends put them in. That just starts arguments. Why does facebook do this? What is wrong with the kid who runs this thing?
The title is NOT misleading because I was searching for that exact thing and found all the answers I needed to know. That is why there is commentary that goes with it. I wasn’t searching for how to remove myself from a group, as many of you probably weren’t either, hence you found this link like I did and found out the answer you needed too. There isn’t a way. Sheesh.
I completely agree, and the same went for me. No one is going to be searching for “How to leave a Facebook Group.” Most have already figured that out.. what we are mad about, and want to know how to change, is how to keep people from adding us to their groups.. and the answer, as he stated, is that you cannot and he gave other options for what to do after such happens.
Frankly, I think it’s a way for Facebook to data mine, using an underhand version of the idea “guilt by association” linked in with “____ saw you at the scene”. Someone on your friends list thinks that you are somehow connected with that group, and you are added, with or without your consent, and now Facebook has that link recorded. If other links continue to be made covering the same subject, you are further incriminated of whatever it is that group is a topic of. Big brother has eyes.. and it’s called Facebook. :P
And, for what it’s worth, yes, the phishing via group auto-add does happen all the time now. Group is put together with something like “Free (whatever) from my new business!!” or something like that, some idiot who got hacked has it created from his profile and it contains tons of links to phishing sites… etc.
Just another reason to eliminate people that aren’t really your friends and inform anyone you know if you think they got hacked, then delete them til it’s fixed. :P
Constantly being added to a group i don’t want to be in…..constantly removing myself…..please sort it.
Automatically adding user to group is very annoying. I think FB will fix this issue soon. Simply send invitation as what FB does for friend invite!
Awesome title. My question was answered. It’s just too bad that most people are too dim to understand why the author titled this article as he did. This function has plenty of opportunity to go awry. “Friend” prominent figures in your community. Create a scandalous group. Tip off anyone and everyone who will open their big mouth about it. Sit back and watch the fun.
I have been added to a group, left and been added again soon after, so it is possible to be added after you left. Unless it was a glitch!
Title misleading!!!!!!! Bad trick.
I mean… Are you people serious? I typed “facebook disable add to group” into my Google search bar, was directed to this article, and I found the answer I was looking for.
Hey author! Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It’s been pretty helpful — for myself and, apparently, for a handful of others who have little better to do than waste their time debating silly things. Even though they clearly got the answer they came here for.
Thanks again!
Hi – I block all apps on Facebook, which cuts down some notifications. My problem is that I keep getting notifications (daily, sometimes hourly) from groups I have NOT joined. When I go to their FB page, it says “Join this group.” How can I leave a group I don’t even belong to?
I’ve also found that unless I specifically decline an event invitation, I will continue to get notifications of every comment. All these notifications are driving me nuts.
It’s a shame that Facebook block friend invites to know new people and don’t have an option to choose if you want or not to join a group, and even an global option to deactivate every app or group request, this is a huge lack of privacy.
This article was helpful regardless of people moaning about the title, I wanted to know how to stop people adding you to groups, as you have pointed out its not possible so this article points that out and then gives you 3 workarounds, perfect title if you ask me.
Clearly the author wanted the article to be on the first page of search results. The whole point of the article is after several paragraphs:
“How can you stop people from adding you to Facebook Groups automatically? The short answer is, you cannot.” It should be in the very beginning.
He added possible solutions (“perfectly fine answers”) in the UPDATE (!!!) section only after seeing negative comments regarding the title. A big thumbs down to Martin Brinkmann!
I found this article usefull, even if the title appears to be misleading. I was looking for a solution to this problem in google, this is how I found this article. As a matter of fact, it is not possible to stop people adding you to unwished groups (apart of quitting the friendship in facebook… And maybe in real life too ;) ), but at least, reading this article I understood why I can’t and where the problem is.
So, I appreciate both the title and the article! :)
Good done!
The title is misleading.
Agreed. The title is shit. I knew the answer because I already read Facebooks statement on the matter. I was here searching for a possible workaround. Gimme my two minutes back!! Have you ever thought about publishing papers on using non or false organic growth to improve seo? You seem to have managed to get to the first page of Google without any necessary information other than keywords.
The comments are better to read than the article so I’m ooot.
Dislike for misleading title
Please let Facebook know that we dislike this feature here: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=ui-privacy2 You can also do as I did & tell them to please: 1) Have an area in the privacy setting to disallow others to add you to groups 2) Make it so that I have to approve group requests (like friend requests). 3) Disallow sharing which groups I leave or join… its nobody’s business. Thank You
I actually find the article extremely helpful. .it answered my question. People should just chill and channel their frustrations towards the actual source of their frustrations! I also find it helpful that there is a group limit although no one actually mentioned the actual limit. I am creating bogus groups but it still needs me to add at least one person. The wife helpfully comes into good use for this purpose!
Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/199554316755501?sr=4&sid=0DPhb2lvEqBNyjbCC
How many groups can I join?
You can join up to 6000 groups. If you’ve already reached this limit, you’ll need to leave some groups before you’ll be able to join new ones.
JESUS people, this article DOES provide the answer. I wanted to know how to stop people from adding me automatically and found out that it isn’t possible. I didnt know that previously and wouldn’t have googled for ” leave group” as that is not what I was looking for.
He does provide the correct answer to the question of how to stop them ( can’t) and t went further and explained how to go about the next best thing (leave) and you are bitching ? what’s wrong with people these days ?
I am sure, if you try really, really hard, you will see that saying” It Is Not Possible” when you started off with a title saying How To Do Something, is not any answer at all. Rather say “Why it is not possible to stop people from adding you to a Facebook Group” or better “What can be done about people adding you to a Facebook Group?”
I am sure you can understand this simple logic – it isn’t really so hard.
What’s wrong with people these days, that they cannot understand simple logic like this?
It may be an accurate answer, but it is still a lousy solution. What happens when I make a group called bomb making for terrorists, throw in a couple of links and then join everyone I do not like with a facebook account. Do they all join the No Fly lists around the world, until they can prove (to each governing body) that the group is just a hoax?
your title … sh!t
The biggest nuisance for me is the number of emails I start receiving in my hotmail inbox, because when someone adds you to a group, you are automatically configured to recieve emails for “All Posts”. You have to go to the notification settings for that group and manually turn them off. Far easier to just leave the group as described above!
This is NOT “How To Stop People From Adding You To Facebook Groupsâ€, you should not write under such misleading titles, it should be “How to leave Facebook Groups”
Very misleading title. What an as*hole. I know how to leave a group. How about writing on how to PREVENT it from happening with other friends.
Wow, it took me all of 2 minutes to read this whole post. Why is everyone so bent out of shape about “wasting” 2 minutes of time. I wasted more time reading everyone’s comments about the title. Too many people with way too much to say and no proper place to say it.
**bonus** I’m now the passive agressive type wasting readers’ time :)
lol!
You keep answering people that tell you your title is wrong and misleading that it isn’t wrong because there isn’t any way to do so (short of removing all your friends). How does that make your title any less misleading?
It’s as if I would write an article named “How to live forever” which would then go on to say you can’t live on forever.
You did a nice job on properly writing the info, but since I, like most other people who get to this page, already know this info, reading this article is a complete waste of our time.
Now I want both FB to change the group setting and YOU to change your title!
Stupid Title ! :/
Follows the official answer.
Q: Can I prevent people from adding me to a new group?
A: The functionality of approving a group membership is not available. Similar to being tagged in a photo, you can only be added to a group by one of your friends. When a friend adds you to a group, a story in the group (and in News Feed for Open or Closed groups) will indicate that your friend has added you to a group.
Please keep in mind:
Only your friends can add you to groups.
When a friend adds you to a group, you’ll get a notification right away.
You can leave a group anytime. To do so, just go to the group page and click “Leave Group” in the right-hand column. Once you leave a group, you can’t be added by anyone else unless you explicitly request to be re-added.
Source: http://on.fb.me/Can-I-prevent-people-from-adding-me-to-a-new-group
Your title is wrong.
That really is a misleading title. Instead of “How to…” it should be “You Can’t…”
You Can’t Stop People From Adding You to Facebook Groups
Then no one would be able to find this information on a Google search, dumbass!
This is not a misleading title. I Googled “How to stop people from adding me to Facebook”. This is how I came across the answer that it is not technically possible, and further explanations on how to remove myself from the group and prevent others from adding me back.
I would have not found this info by searching “There is no way to prevent being added to a Facebook group”. Nobody searches like that. So it is foolish to expect him to make his title like that.
Sorry Guys but you are being very insensitive to the author of this article who was only trying to be helpful.
Well that’s my opinion, those with human dignity and compassionate consideration will at least begin to see what I mean.
shut up faggot. “SEO” does not justify the misleading title.
It explains it, but doesnt make it right. For the record, I’m using adblockplus, noscript, and peerblock… so you get no ad revenue from me.
I’m just here to leech your bandwidth and have my time wasted by misleading titles to articles.
Moving on, now..
I have a way to do it and it’s working great :)
All that you want to do is to subscribe in a lot of groups … there is a limit for groups on facebook i.e when you try to request joining any group facebook will give you a message that you have to many groups, you should delete one of your groups.
At this time no one can add you to any group until he/she contacts you and tells you that I’ll add you to a new group .. so you can delete any other group and join the new group.
This is working great with me :)
A member I want to delete from a Facebook Group is not showing up on the members list. And he keeps taunting and abusing the group asking us Admins to remove him, which we can’t because he is not showing up on the member list. What is happening?
Misleading title, waste of time
1) create a group “I’ve never fucked a goat”
2) add “friend” that added you to annoying group
3) they are now in a dodgy sounding group, if they leave, everyone gets message that
has left the group “I’ve never fucked a goat”
bonus points if you then create another group called “Goat fuckers Anonymous” & add him to it.
;-)
of course he will delete me before i could add him to any other group , lol
HAHAHA! BRILLIANT!
Do people or the group creator get notified if you leave the group?
dude, whats up with the misleading title of this article?
Change your title! This is so misleading and a waste of time….
Misleading title.
Misleading title. How do i stop them from adding me? I know how to leave a group…
Hi there, do you know whether you can back up the old facebook groups that are soon to be archived?
This is NOT “How To Stop People From Adding You To Facebook Groupsâ€, you should not write under such misleading titles, it should be “How to leave Facebook Groups”….which is not so hard to figure out…
Well it is, but you have to read between the lines. The only way to prevent people from adding you is to have only friends that do not do it.
He is right. Personally i came here and couldn’t get the information the title should be providing. This sh** is also written in the facebook support page, Why in your opinion would people read that crap there and check again for new answers? Because, they want real answer not misleading titles.
Your title is “How to stop people from adding you to Facebook Groups”. Then later on, you say: “It is not possible.” Don’t you realize people come here under the illusion that your article provides an answer? Don’t you realize people are fed-up with being lied to and led around by the nose? And then to top it all, your article contains at least one big lie, namely that you can be re-added to a group. If your intention with this article was to provide a service to people, you have failed miserably. Let’s see if this comment survives moderation! Even better, let’s see if you have the guts to edit your article and it’s title as well!
Change the title please…
This is NOT “How To Stop People From Adding You To Facebook Groups”
Why didn’t you just say how to leave fb groups…
I agree with Vanja!
The title is misleading because unfriending people from FB is defeating the whole purpose. It is NOT how to stop people from adding you to groups. You may as well suggest them to delete their FB account or deactivate it.
I totally agree with you Vanja!
Vanja, the only way to stop people from adding you is to remove them from your friend list.
The title is improper, because you write for countless USELESS paragraphs only to say you can’t. So if you can’t, then you’re not teaching anyone how to do it, so the title is misleading.
So i’ll have 0 friends at the end?
Im just saying that your title is not proper with your text…
Okay i can understand that you want good seo at google… but its waste of time and its unnecessary text…
DISLIKE
I do not think its improper. The only option right now is to unfriend someone, there is no other option. I update the article as soon as Facebook changes the default behavior.
As far as I know, once you leave a group, you can’t be re-added.
Think again. I have left this one group over and over, and yes, I click the box that does not let them add me back. I never joined in the first place.
Yet, a month or so later, there it is, back in my groups.
You CAN be re-added, unless you click on the button that says “prevent others from re-adding me” at the time you leave the group. You must not really be paying attention.
The “prevent others from re-adding me” option doesn’t show up on iphone or droid – you have to use the desktop version which you can access on most iphones by going into your settings and clicking on “request desktop”. What I have found works even better than that is to add THEM to a group they don’t want to be added to – like the group called “I’m an asshole who adds people to groups without their permission”.
Actually I paid very well attention. That’s how I knew they took away the do not re-add function. Unless it just shows up on the computer and not an iPhone. But thank you for your advice
I have been re-added to the same dang group 11 times.. every time i Leave the group, I am re-added. It does not give you the option to “Prevent others from re-adding you” any longer!!
THANK YOU!! There seems to be a rash of BOGUS groups worming onto accounts lately!
GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok that’s good, thanks Chewy.
How about if you left a group, and clicked the toggle ‘Prevent people from inviting you to join this group again’ and now wish to be part of the group? How can one go about unblocking the block? I have looked for literal months to find this answer.
I know this comment section conversation took place years ago, but hoping a reply may come my way.
Thanks!
Hi JD, did you find a solution? I am still searching. I find it baffling that Facebook wouldn’t have an option with the settings to untoggle the block on the block. Unless the group unhides itself so I can find it in the search box, there doesn’t seem to be a solution. Had the group’s admin send me the group’s URL, but it didn’t work. :-(
I need the answer to this too. Can’t find it anywhere.
You should add an edit to the original article – at the place where you assume that you can be re-added – to include Chewy’s info. Otherwise people will be mis-led. Not everyone reads the comments.