anywhere on the page and select View Page Source (or press Ctrl + U ).
Today, standard profile URLs use a vanity username or a random string, not the numeric ID. This change was not a security measure—IDs are still exposed in page source and image URLs—but a privacy-by-obscurity tactic. It raises the effort required for casual scraping while acknowledging that truly determined actors can still find the ID. This reflects a core tension in platform design: unique identifiers are necessary for function but dangerous when easily accessible.
Group IDs are necessary if you are building a bot or aggregating posts via API.
Method C — Graph API endpoint (for Pages and public profiles)
If you don't want to dig through code, several websites can do the work for you. Sites like CommentPicker , Lookup-ID , or FindMyFBID allow you to paste the profile URL, and they will extract the numerical ID for you.
No. Your username is custom (e.g., john.smith ). Your FBID is a permanent number that never changes—even if you change your username or display name.