fbclid is the Facebook Click Identifier. Facebook appends it to outbound links so it can tie the click back to your profile and the ad or post you came from.

gclid is the Google Click Identifier, added to links from Google Ads so Google can attribute the click and conversion to a specific ad campaign.

Do tracking IDs stay in a link when I share it?

Yes. If you copy a link straight from your address bar, identifiers like fbclid and gclid travel with it. Anyone you send it to, and the destination's analytics, can see them. Cleaning the link first removes them.

Link Privacy

How to Clean Tracking Links Before Sharing

When you copy a link to send to a friend, you often send a lot more than the page. Hidden click identifiers like fbclid and gclid ride along, tying the link back to you and the ad you came from. Here is what they are and how to strip them in one click.

4 min read Updated June 2026 Free to use

The tracking identifiers hiding in your links

Ad networks and social platforms append a unique click ID to outbound links. Unlike UTM tags (which describe a campaign), these IDs can tie a single click back to a single user.

fbclidFacebook Click ID, links the click to your profile and the source post or ad

gclidGoogle Click ID, attributes the click and conversion to a Google Ads campaign

msclkidMicrosoft / Bing Ads click identifier

igshidInstagram share identifier added to shared links

ttclidTikTok click identifier

mc_cid / mc_eidMailchimp campaign and subscriber identifiers

Why it matters when sharing: paste a link from your address bar into a group chat and everyone, plus the destination's analytics, can see the fbclid that identifies your original click. Cleaning the link first removes that trail.

Clean any link in 3 steps

Install QuietBrowsing Add the free QuietBrowsing extension to Chrome.
Right-click and Copy Clean Link On any link or page, choose Copy Clean Link. QuietBrowsing removes fbclid, gclid, utm_* and 60+ more, then copies the clean URL.
Share it Paste anywhere. The link carries no identifiers back to advertisers, and it is shorter and cleaner too.

It also works passively: with QuietBrowsing on, tracking parameters are stripped from links automatically as you browse, so most URLs are already clean by the time you copy them.

Frequently asked questions

Will removing fbclid or gclid break the link?

No. These identifiers are for tracking only. The destination page loads identically without them.

Can I clean a link I already copied?

Yes. QuietBrowsing Pro includes a clipboard cleaner that sanitizes any URL you have copied with one click.

Is anything uploaded?

No. All cleaning is local to your browser. QuietBrowsing has no servers and collects no data.

Share clean links, free

QuietBrowsing strips click IDs and tracking tags from any link. 100% local, nothing uploaded.

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