How Steam profile visibility works

Steam Community Database (SCDB) records what a profile showed when it was read. A public profile is not a complete one, and a hidden surface is not an empty one.

Public is not complete

Steam lets a public profile hide a game library, a friends list, or inventory. SCDB can still hold the persona, the level, and the other surfaces that were actually public. Missing a game is not the same as owning none.

Private is not empty

When Steam refuses a friends list, that is a hidden list, not zero friends. An empty array is genuinely none. Those two answers look identical from outside if you collapse them into a count. SCDB keeps them apart and does not guess which one you wanted.

What we do not invent

SCDB does not fill a hidden surface from another account. It does not label someone an alt. A ban is the fact Steam published, with the date we saw it, and no colour attached. Privacy describes what is kept and how to erase a record you control.