There’s nothing more frustrating than someone who has just randomly blocked you. Finding someone on a social network is tough, but if you’ve blocked you on Facebook or Tiktok, we know some tricks to get around this.
BBC sources have suggested that more and more teenagers are turning to TikTok even when it comes to something as fundamentally factual as the news. This shows social media apps’ inherent sway and popularity in the Gen Z of today.
Given the number of people who use both these platforms on a regular surprise, people are bound to get into online tussles and block each other. How do you know? Or simply that one irritating colleague has blocked your social.
But what if you can’t find them on TikTok or Facebook anymore? While Facebook is slightly better at understanding whether a person has blocked you, Tiktok doesn’t notify you. Here’s your simple guide to telling who has blocked you.
How to tell if someone blocked you on TikTok?
With a whopping 1.2 billion monthly users, TikTok is one of the biggest apps in the world right now. Market statistics have suggested that by the end of next year, this number can significantly cross 100 billion.
1) Searching by checking your “Following” List
So, this person has been following you for some time, but you have a sinking suspicion that they blocked you recently. How can you be sure?
- Open the Tiktok account. Then, go to the “Following” section, which lists all the accounts you have been following.
- In the topmost search bar, type in the Tiktok username of the individual/page you are trying to locate.
- If they were initially following you, but now you do not see their name, you can be sure that this person has blocked you.
2) Searching by Using the Discover tab
Imagine you have been stalking someone on Tiktok (no judgment, we’ve all been there!). But now you can’t seem to open their page. Things are more difficult considering neither of you was following each other’s accounts. So, how do you tell for sure if they’ve blocked you?
- Open your Tiktok account and go to the Search bar at the top right segment.
- Type in the Tiktok username.
- Click on the “Users” tab. This narrows down the search results.
- If you can’t seem to find their account with the search username, chances are that they have already blocked your account.
3) Search by checking messages and comments
Considering how thorough the push notification algorithm of Tiktok is, you’d think that the app lets you know if someone has visited your profile or vice versa. But fortunately, that’s not the case. However, you can use the notification feature to see if someone has blocked you.
- Open TikTok. Then click on the tab “notifications” tab at the bottom corner (right) of the bar.
- Doing this will pull up a list of your account’s recent notifications.
- Is there a notification from the person/page in this list? For instance, your comments on their posts or recent tags.
- Once you find such a one-time notification, click on it.
- The algorithm should direct you to that particular post. However, if it says “Post No Longer Available,” the person/page may have blocked your account.
4) Following their account
You will be surprised how frequently celebrities on social media have blocked people. While most of those blocked people happen to ordinary people, it is funny. A classic example of this is Gina Carano, who, after being fired by Disney, went on a spree to block dozens of people who questioned her anti-semitic posts.
- Open Tiktok. Then go to the Discover tab at the top of the page.
- Type in their Tiktok username.
- Click on the “Users” tab, and click on their profile.
- Once their profile is open, click on the “Follow” button.
- However, if the app shows you a “you can’t follow this person” message, you can be confident that this person has blocked your Tiktok account.
5) Searching by using a Friend’s account
Whether in Middle school or as adults going out for our regular Saturday brunch, using a friend’s account to do embarrassing stuff online is genetically coded into our DNA, no matter how old we get.
- Open the app using your friend’s account.
- Search the username of the person in the Discover bar who you think may have blocked you.
- Open the profile and click on the “Follow” tab.
- If you can follow this person/page through your friend’s TikTok account but cannot do the same using your account, you can be sure that the person/page has blocked you.
How to tell if someone blocked you on Facebook?
Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook) has recently said that Facebook is launching a Feeds tab where all its users can see the posts made by the people in their friend’s list, groups, and pages they like, in chronological order. Each user will still have a personalized feed consisting of customized content. But what the new feature will do is allow further customization. This could mean that the Facebook feed would look like that of TikTok. But does the “block” feature also work the same way? Unfortunately, not. So, how can you find someone on Facebook if they blocked you?
1) Looking at your Friends’ List
Friends’ Lists on Facebook can be extended. The more people you add, the larger the list grows. Fortunately, the benefit of Facebook is that you cannot only customize the friend list but also hide it from certain people or hide it all.
But did you know that you can also find out who blocked you from your Friends’ List? However, this works only when you are Facebook friends with this individual.
- Log in to Facebook. Go to the Personal section.
- Open your Friend’s List.
- If the person is not listed on your Friend List, they have unfriended you or blocked you.
2) Trying to Tag Them in Posts
Usually, the Facebook posts you make are available only to the people on your friend list, and unless the setting is specified otherwise, you can tag your friends in all of your posts. Fortunately, this can also help you understand if someone has blocked you.
- Create a new post entirely from scratch on your Facebook wall.
- Now click on the tag option in the post window.
- You will get a drop-down tab/ menu. From there, try to tag the person in the post.
- If you cannot tag them, they have unfriended or blocked you.
Unfortunately, this feature cannot be used for previous posts wherein you have tagged the person.
3) Trying to Invite Them to Facebook Groups or Events
Facebook groups are more community oriented than your traditional Facebook pages. Also, these groups are a great way to interact with other individuals. On the other hand, Facebook events are calendar-based resources that notify all users of an upcoming occasion. Registered users can create events that can be either private or open.
- Open Facebook. Then choose the “Events” tab from the upper right section of the bar.
- Click on the “Create an Event” option from the drop-down menu. This will let you create a new event from scratch.
- After you set the event’s details, such as time, place, and date, the algorithm will ask you to invite people from your Friends’ List to the event.
- Click on the “Invite” option beside the tiny envelope available on the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Facebook will show a list. If you cannot send an invite to that person, they have either blocked you or unfriended you.
4) Looking At Their Posts on Your Feed
This is one of the most accessible and evident tips and tricks. If you start to see the person’s posts, events, reshares, likes, etc., are no longer showing on your feed, then something is wrong.
Unfortunately, it isn’t the most reliable trick. You can stop seeing your friend’s posts on your feed for several reasons. They may have stopped posting often, or you may have muted them by accident, or because the algorithm of social media apps isn’t always reliable, their posts haven’t been as visible as they were before.
5) Checking Their Facebook Profile
While nifty tricks and tips are helpful when it comes to finding alternative or sneaky ways to see if a person has blocked your Facebook username, the easiest way is to check their Facebook profile.
- Open your Facebook profile.
- Go to the Search bar at the top left corner of the website.
- Type in the Facebook username of the person you are looking for.
- If the drop-down menu does not show the Facebook username of the person you are looking for, they may have blocked you.
6) Searching for their profile after logging out
Considering you have looked for the person’s profile using the Search bar while logged in through your Facebook profile, this nifty can help you become more specific.
Log out of your Facebook profile. Then, as a guest, search for the person’s Facebook username using the same steps mentioned above. If the person’s profile is visible now but wasn’t when you logged in, it means they have blocked you. However, if their account is still not visible, then in all possibilities, they have deleted their Facebook account.
7) Trying to Send Messenger Notes to Them
The Facebook Messenger app is encrypted, more so when using the Messenger app rather than the Facebook website. This means that your messages are private. Also, they can be read only by the people who are part of the chat.
One thing which you can do is send the person a message on the app. If you cannot see them in the Messenger app (there is no profile picture or every time you try to click on the profile picture, it says “user not found”) or get a message that says, “This person is not contactable,” the person may have blocked you.
8) Using a Friend’s Account to Check:
The 90s babies will know that while in school, we’ve all used our friends’ accounts to snoop around, particularly if we were crushing on someone. So, why should now be any different?
Just like the previous step, log out of your account and log in using your friend’s details. Now go to the search bar and type the Facebook username of the person you are looking for. If their profiles are available to you using the account of your friend (or any other account, for that matter), then you have been blocked.
What is Shadowbanning?
More often than not, users can get Shadowbanned on social media apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tiktok. This happens when certain content, including posts, videos, pictures, etc., do not adhere to the website’s community guidelines or there are copyright or infringement issues. The last two years have seen a significant rise in the number of people who have been shadowbanned on TikTok. Therefore, if you haven’t seen posts from a specific person on your feed, chances are that either you or they have been shadowbanned.
Unfortunately, most social websites alter their algorithm frequently, which means random users can suddenly get shadowbanned.
Let’s Recall:
To make a long story short, there are several ways to check whether a person has blocked you on Facebook or TikTok or most social websites, for that matter. Direct ways include-
- checking their profiles.
- Trying to message.
- Search for them using the “Search” bars of the apps.
Sneakier ways include your friend’s profile to do a discreet search. We suggest the morally ambiguous way of always having a disposable shadow account for such work.
Keep in mind that it is always possible that Search Username may not work as usual when a user has been shadowbanned on either TikTok or Facebook.
We hope this article has helped you.