Facebook will start limiting the personal information that users can display on their profiles on 1 December 2022, which it says will make the platform “easier to navigate and use”, TechCrunch reports.

The “interested in”, addresses, political views, and religion sections will be removed from Facebook users’ personal information on the platform.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra first spotted the changes, and Facebook subsequently confirmed the changes in a statement.

“As part of our efforts to make Facebook easier to navigate and use, we’re removing a handful of profile fields: Interested In, Religious Views, Political Views, and Address,” a spokesperson reportedly told TechCrunch.

Users that have populated the deprecated sections will get a notification about the change, while other details, such as contact information and relationship status, will remain.

“We’re sending notifications to people who have these fields filled out, letting them know these fields will be removed,” the spokesperson said.

Facebook is reportedly streamlining its platform, and removing these sections is part of the process.

However, the potential for divisiveness and targeting that may stem from data contained in these fields suggests removing them is about more than “streamlining”.

While Facebook has had versions of these personal information fields since its inception, no other popular social network — outside of dating apps — offers them.

It is also noteworthy that these changes are being rolled out after the recent US midterm election, likely to avoid accusations that Facebook was trying to favour one side or the other.

Facebook removing political views and religion from user profiles (mybroadband.co.za)