Facebook birthdays: what a public profile can establish

Look only at information shared with you

Facebook allows people to control who sees their birthday day and month, and who sees the year. Someone may share a birthday without displaying a complete date of birth. Meta's help pages explain these separate audience settings; they are not a promise that every profile will show the information.

Where you already have a legitimate reason to check a known profile, look at the About or basic information section that is available to your own account. If the birthday is not visible, respect that boundary. Do not create a false identity, borrow an account or ask someone else to evade the person's privacy settings.

Record exactly what is shown

A displayed day and month is only a day and month. It does not establish an age or birth year. Similarly, a birthday greeting is not a reliable identity document. Avoid turning a small clue into a complete date of birth through guesswork.

If the detail is relevant to a legitimate matter, make a restrained note of what you saw, where you saw it and when. Keep the distinction between ‘the profile displays’ and ‘this has been independently confirmed’. Do not circulate screenshots of unrelated people or conversations.

Check the question before collecting more

Ask whether you actually need a full date of birth. If the purpose is remembering a friend's birthday, asking them may resolve it. If the purpose is a formal identity check or legal matter, ask the responsible professional what evidence is suitable. Social media should not be used as a substitute for the required verification process.

• A matching name alone does not establish that you have the right person.
• A blank field does not explain why the person has chosen not to share it.
• Do not infer a birth year from appearance, photographs or social connections.
• Never use birthday information to attempt account access or answer another person's security questions.

If the information remains uncertain

You do not need to keep searching until you find a date that fits. Tell PDC what you are trying to establish and why, without sending unnecessary personal details in your first message. We can suggest basic next steps and explain whether the question needs more careful professional assessment.

Questions you may have