Facebook Adds Group Nicknames to Rival Reddit

Facebook has unveiled a new feature that allows users to use nicknames within Facebook Groups, posing a direct challenge to the pseudonymous nature of sites such as Reddit and Discord. 

With the introduction of nickname support, Facebook Groups are starting to resemble Reddit more closely. With the introduction of this feature, it lets users post using a custom username instead of their real identity, offering an alternative to fully anonymous posting. While anonymous posts hide a user’s profile and real-life identity, they also make it harder for group members to recognize the person behind the posts or follow their activity over time. 

The feature began rolling out around November 24, 2025, and is now available worldwide, although group admins must opt in to allow it.

According to Meta, the company says that the nicknames allows users to participate in groups more personally while still protecting their privacy, particularly in communities where anonymity is important but people still want a recognizable presence. The feature also brings Facebook Groups closer to traditional forums like Reddit and Discord, where users typically post under usernames. This marks a shift from Facebook’s long-standing “real name” policy, which has historically required people to use their actual identities on the platform.

That strategy worked when Facebook was primarily a social network based on real-world ties with family and friends, but the inclusion of Facebook Groups broadened users’ circles of engagement to include online strangers, necessitating greater privacy safeguards.

Users in a group can use their nickname to post, remark, and react inside groups that allow the feature. Also users can hide their main profile and profile photo from other members, but not from group administrators, moderators, or Facebook’s own systems.

Others in the group, on the other hand, will be able to see a user’s whole post history under their group username, as well as the comments and reactions made in the group over the last seven days.

Facebook will offer nicknames to users, but they can modify them to ones of their choosing. The name must be consistent with Facebook’s Community Standards and cannot already be used by another group member. The company is also recommending a profile image for the moniker, however users can choose their own from the available options, as well as a coloured background.

To use the function, users will select the option next to “Post anonymously” while creating a post, followed by the opportunity to customise a moniker. The option to use a nickname can be disabled at any moment, allowing users to publish using their true name again.

Users are only allowed to modify their moniker once every two days. Furthermore, adopting a nickname does not enable users to separate themselves from previous postings and comments. When they alter their nickname, their previous posts, comments, and reactions will be updated, albeit this may take some time to display across devices and groups. If users use various nicknames in multiple groups, the name change will only affect the posts, comments, and responses in the group associated with that nickname.

According to the firm, customers with nicknames are unable to access some functions such as Live Video, content sharing, and private messaging. Users can also block people based on their nicknames.

The feature is globally available, however it must be enabled in each group by the group admin.

Their nicknames bridge the gap between two social internet paradigms. Users can remove their contributions from their public profiles while still influencing known personas in a community. Pew Research has repeatedly demonstrated that people value the freedom to discuss sensitive topics anonymously, particularly those concerning health and politics. That is consistent with Meta’s narrative that Groups are a keystone of its platform: the company claims that more than 1.8 billion people use Facebook Groups each month, across tens of millions of groups.