Control Your Conversation: A Guide to Hiding Comments on Instagram

Managing the conversation on your Instagram posts is crucial for fostering a positive online environment. Instagram provides several tools to help you control who can comment on your content and what comments are visible. This guide will walk you through the various methods for hiding and managing comments on your Instagram profile.

Turning Off Comments

For complete control over comments, you can disable the comments entirely.

1. Select Profile.
2. Select Settings, it's the gear icon ⛭ .
3. Select Settings and privacy.
4. Scroll down to Comments, in the "How others interact with you" section (see image below).

Turning Off Comments for a Specific Post

For complete control over a particular post, you can disable the comment section entirely.

Before you post:

1. On the final screen before sharing, tap on "Advanced Settings" at the bottom.
2. Toggle on the "Turn Off Commenting" option.

After you've posted:

1. Navigate to the post for which you wish to disable comments.
2. Tap the three dots (•••) located in the top-right corner of your post.
3. Select "Turn Off Commenting" from the menu. The comment icon will disappear from below your post.

You can re-enable comments at any time by following the same steps and selecting "Turn On Commenting."

Filtering and Hiding Unwanted Comments

If you prefer to allow comments but want to filter out inappropriate or offensive content, Instagram's "Hidden Words" feature is a powerful tool.

1. Go to your Profile and tap the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner.
2. Select "Settings and privacy."
3. Scroll down to the "How others can interact with you" section and tap on "Hidden Words."

Within this menu, you have several options:

• Hide Comments: This feature automatically hides comments that Instagram deems offensive or likely to be spam. You can review these hidden comments by tapping "View hidden comments" at the bottom of your post's comment section.
• Advanced Comment Filtering: This is a stricter filter that will hide more potentially offensive comments and spam.
• Custom Word List for Comments: Here, you can create a personalized list of words, phrases, and emojis that you want to be automatically hidden from your comments. This is particularly useful for filtering out specific terms or spammy phrases.

Restricting Specific Accounts

If you are consistently receiving unwanted comments from a particular user, you can "Restrict" their account. This is a more subtle alternative to blocking.

1. Navigate to the profile of the account you wish to restrict.
2. Tap the three dots (•••) in the top-right corner of their profile.
3. Select "Restrict."

When you restrict an account:

• Their new comments on your posts will only be visible to them and you. You will not receive a notification for their comments.
• You can choose to view the comment by tapping "See Comment" and then approve it to be visible to everyone, delete it, or ignore it.
• Their direct messages will be moved to your "Message requests" folder, and you won't be notified when they've read your messages.