How to remove fbclid from a link

fbclid stands for Facebook Click Identifier. Facebook automatically adds it to (almost) every link you click from its apps and website. It looks like this:

https://example.com/article?fbclid=IwAR2a9x8Kd0f3nQ...

What it actually does

The code is a unique fingerprint that ties the click back to your Facebook session. When you land on the destination site — if that site uses the Facebook pixel — the two can be matched up. It helps advertisers confirm "this person clicked our link and then did X." In short, it's there to track you across websites, not to help the page load.

Is it safe to delete?

Yes, completely. fbclid has no effect on the content you see. Delete it and the page opens exactly the same — just without the tracking. The same goes for its cousins: gclid (Google Ads), msclkid (Microsoft Ads), and igshid (Instagram).

Removing it by hand

If you only need to do it once, you can edit the link manually:

1. Copy the full link.
2. Find the ?fbclid= or &fbclid= part.
3. Delete everything from there to the end — unless there's another & after it, in which case only delete up to that next &.

That last step is where it gets fiddly. If a link has several parameters, it's easy to accidentally delete one that the page actually needs (like a product ID), and then the link breaks.

Removing it in one click

The safer way is to let a tool do it. Paste the link into URL Valet and it strips fbclid — plus every other known tracker — while protecting the parameters that matter. No manual editing, no broken links. If you clean links from Facebook often, our Chrome extension does it with a single click on the toolbar or a right-click on any link.