LinkCleanhttps://example.com/product?fbclid=IwAR0aBcDeFgHiJk1234567890XyZ
After LinkCleanhttps://example.com/product
fbclid
Ad-click identifiers · Meta (Facebook)
What fbclid actually is
Meta calls it the Facebook Click Identifier. When you click a link inside Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger, Meta rewrites the URL on the fly to append ?fbclid=<long opaque token>. The token is unique per click, embeds the ad-impression context, and is bound to the cookie Meta has on your browser.
When the destination site loads, if it runs Meta Pixel (a tiny snippet that pings Meta back), the Pixel reads fbclid from the URL and sends it home. Meta now knows the same person who saw the ad clicked through and reached the page. That's how conversion attribution works — and why fbclid is on virtually every link Facebook serves.
What it leaks when you forward the link
Forward a link with fbclid still attached and you hand someone else a token that was tied to *your* click. If their browser visits a site with Meta Pixel installed, the Pixel will dutifully send the token back to Meta — and Meta now has a tiny extra signal linking your share to their session.
Meta increasingly hashes and rotates fbclid so it expires quickly, but the underlying attribution intent is the same: a per-click identifier that follows your click off Meta's platform. The privacy-safe default is to strip it.
How LinkClean removes it
fbclid is in LinkClean's default ad-identifier catalog, alongside Google's gclid / gbraid / wbraid, Microsoft's msclkid, TikTok's ttclid, Yandex's yclid, and a few more. They're stripped on every site (no per-site scoping needed — these names don't legitimately appear as functional keys anywhere).
LinkClean also strips Meta's _fbp and _fbc cookie-mirroring URL parameters when they appear in a link.
Why it's safe to strip
fbclid is attribution metadata — Meta uses it on its end to credit an ad. The destination page never needs it; the server-side product, article, or video loads identically without it. Refresh a page with fbclid removed and nothing changes about what loads.
Frequently asked
Does removing fbclid break Facebook links?
No. The link still goes to the same destination. The only thing that breaks is Meta's ad attribution — but that's Meta's bookkeeping, not your problem.
Will the page still load?
Yes. fbclid is only read by Meta Pixel scripts on the destination site (if they're there at all). Servers route on the path; the parameter is ignored by every part of the stack except an explicit Pixel call.
Why does Facebook add fbclid even to links I share manually?
Facebook injects it when *anyone* clicks an outbound link from the platform — including when you click a link to copy it. That's why outbound links to your friends so often arrive with fbclid attached. Strip it before forwarding.
Is fbclid personal data?
It's tied to your browser's Facebook cookie, so it can be joined back to your account on Meta's side. By itself the URL doesn't say “Ken Tominaga clicked this”, but Meta knows exactly which click it was.
Clean it on iPhone, in one tap.
LinkClean strips this parameter — and 80+ others — from any link, from any app's share sheet. No account, on-device.
