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Facebook and ex issue- anyone else had this?

(35 Posts)
keepingquiet Sun 11-Apr-21 18:53:29

Three years ago my nine year relationship broke up very suddenly. I blocked my ex and his family from my Facebook page and deleted all his photos from my profile.
We have only one remaining friend in common, and she doesn't use Facebook much. I think if I asked she would now unfriend him, but in the early days I think she wanted to keep an eye on him!
However three years later she tells me my photos are still there in his page and I don't know why.
I have no inclination to ask him to remove them but I'm wondering if that is my only option.
Should I ask my friend to do it or should I do it myself?
Can Facebook ask him for me?
I don't want to re-friend him I just feel uncomfortable with my images and my families still being on his page as of we're still an item. It's beginning to bother me more than it did before.

Secondwind Mon 12-Apr-21 13:37:37

I can understand why you are irritated, but I think many of us may flatter ourselves at how interested other people are in our photographs. I suspended my fb account some time ago now, but when it was active I never spent time going through friends’ albums. I would just note the ones that popped up in my wall.

Amberone Mon 12-Apr-21 13:39:02

Do you actually even know if he is using Facebook at the moment? They may still be there because he hasn't looked at it in years. I forgot my login for facebook and haven't been on there for over ten years, but there are still photos on there (all travel photos though).

And Madwoman1 is right - any photos put on the internet (wherever they are) no longer belong to you. They can be taken and used by anyone on any site, although I think they actually now belong to the site they are posted to. One of the reasons people are dissuaded from putting up pictures of young children.

Fernhillnana Mon 12-Apr-21 15:26:56

Yet another good reason to leave Facebook! (Imho).

Polarbear2 Mon 12-Apr-21 15:38:23

Simple creatures most of them. ?

Nanette1955 Mon 12-Apr-21 19:17:03

Maybe the memories are precious to him! The fact that you parted with some acrimony doesn’t changed the fact that you shared some wonderful times! I can’t envisage a time I would consider removing my partner from my Facebook memories, but then I wouldn’t unfriend him or his family unless he requested it. Friends friendships shouldn’t be decided on a split from ones partner, as those friends have the right to make their own decisions. Didn’t you make memorable friendships jointly, or with a any of his family that you now greatly miss?

keepingquiet Mon 12-Apr-21 20:06:58

Nanette1955

Maybe the memories are precious to him! The fact that you parted with some acrimony doesn’t changed the fact that you shared some wonderful times! I can’t envisage a time I would consider removing my partner from my Facebook memories, but then I wouldn’t unfriend him or his family unless he requested it. Friends friendships shouldn’t be decided on a split from ones partner, as those friends have the right to make their own decisions. Didn’t you make memorable friendships jointly, or with a any of his family that you now greatly miss?

No, I don't believe he gives me a moment's thought. I have lots of of photos of him when sharing good times but not on Facebook.
We had no joint friends (he never had any friends of his own, only those he met though me) ,and his family were the main reason we split, so I'm glad there are no longer in my life.

Harmonypuss Tue 13-Apr-21 11:16:35

I had exactly the same problem as the OP.
My ex-husband and I divorced 23yrs ago, he was never interested in anything like fb or friends reunited so I never realised I would have anything to worry about until about 9yrs ago when my son was contacted by a cousin who'd said my ex wanted to make contact with him and passed on the fact that he was now on fb.
My son wasn't keen on talking to his father but looked at his fb page all the same and saw that he had added a number of photos to it, including some of our wedding pictures!
A bit of back story.... several years earlier my ex had sent me a letter enclosing all copies of any photos he had of me and/or our son, saying he'd rather not have them as a reminder because my son had said he wanted nothing to do with him (he'd had precious little input over the years anyway).
He came straight to me, angry that his father would blatantly put pics of ME on his page especially as we'd had no contact for years.
My son spoke to his cousin and eventually got in touch with his father and told him in no uncertain terms that he did not have our permission (his or mine) to post these pictures and that he must remove them.
He refused point blank to take them down.
I eventually went to fb whilst my son spoke to his cousins, aunts and uncles, all in an attempt to get these pictures removed. Even his family couldn't understand why he'd want pictures of me on his page but no amount of persuasion would make him take them down.
My efforts with fb fell on deaf ears too, they said that these pictures were 'a part of his life and he has the right to display them if he wants to'. I argued that it was also my right NOT to have them displayed without my permission, not least the fact that they'd been taken in 1995, we'd divorced in 1998 and the ex hadn't even created his fb page until 2012, so why did he feel the need to put them up anyway?
Long story short, no matter what we did, we couldn't get them removed. Fb did say that if I felt 'that' strongly about it I could take the ex to court to get them removed.... my son and I have agreed that he's not worth the time, cost or effort, so we've blocked his fb page so that we don't have to see my pics, my son totally blanks his father if he sees him in the street and refused to talk about him if he speaks to his cousins. Totally blank him out, prove he means nothing to us, that's what we've found to be the best course of action.

Yorki Tue 13-Apr-21 11:30:27

I would tell your friend not to tell you about what your ex is or isn't doing, it's just opening up old wounds for you . I wouldn't like having my face rubbed in it either . Leave it where it belongs, in the past . After a while he might decide to get rid of them anyway . But if not , you don't need to know about it .

keepingquiet Tue 13-Apr-21 15:01:37

Harmonypuss I think your experience has confirmed for me that there is no point in pursuing this, strange as I find it.
My friend will de-friend my ex if I ask her, maybe there was something in me that has remained a little curious (I can still find his profile myself and see my photos there, like it is a completely different woman!) she has only stayed friends because I asked her- she doesn't use Facebook much.
Maybe I've been looking for closure for the past few years but it didn't come. Time to stop giving it headspace.