📷 Instagram professional accounts

Instagram’s Hidden Words, and what it does not cover

Three different controls sit under one name: a filter running on Instagram’s own offensive word list, a custom list you write, and a separate switch for message requests. The first is already on, the third is not, and only the middle one is yours to edit.

The three controls Test a comment free →

Checked against Meta’s Help Center on 15 September 2026.

One name, three switches

Where each one lives

✓ Offensive comments filter — already on. Menu → How others can interact with you → Comments → Types of comments → Hide unwanted comments, set to None, Some or More. The words behind it are Instagram’s, not yours (Meta).
✓ Your own list. Menu → How others can interact with you → Hidden words. Words, phrases, numbers and emoji, separated by commas.
✓ Message requests — off by default. Menu → Messages and story replies → Message requests → Hide unwanted message requests, which sends filtered requests to spam. Not supported on the web. That half is Instagram’s alone: CommentDefender reads comments and never touches your DMs.

Not the same as Facebook

Two real differences

It reaches backwards. Meta says a custom Hidden Words list hides both new and existing content, and that turning the list off puts the old comments back. Facebook’s blocked words only affect what arrives next — this is the one place a native Instagram control does something no comment tool built on Meta’s API can offer you.

It covers your ads. Meta states that Instagram’s Hidden Words extend to ads you run, the same way a Facebook Page’s word settings do (Meta). See comments on Facebook and Instagram ads for what is still missing there.

Troubleshooting

Why Hidden Words looks like it is not working

✓ Your list only covers posts you share. Comments elsewhere are outside it.
✓ Message-request filtering was never on. It ships off, and it does not work on the web at all.
✓ The count did not drop. Meta says hidden comments still count toward a post’s comment total, so the number stays put even when the comment is gone from view.
✓ You are on the web. Meta notes the options there may vary from the app.
✓ You can still see it. Meta’s pages disagree about who sees a hidden Instagram comment — one says only you and its author, another describes a “View hidden comments” tap, and the Business Suite page says the author’s friends see it too. Assume more visible rather than less, and read hide versus delete for how Facebook documents the same thing.

The blunter options

Turning comments off, and limiting who can leave them

A post or Reel can have commenting switched off from its own … menu — existing comments disappear and return if you switch it back on (Meta). Limit interactions, under the same interaction settings, can restrict comments from accounts that are new or do not follow you for up to four weeks at a time (Meta) — useful during a pile-on, and indiscriminate the rest of the time.

Starter lists

Phrases worth putting in your Hidden Words box

The defaults CommentDefender ships. Plain text, comma-separated in Instagram — and phrases rather than single words, because “free” on its own also hides “carefree”.

  • Contact bait Invitations to move your customer into a private chat, written without the email or phone number the contact filter would catch. dm me · inbox me · whatsapp me
  • Link bait Comments that point your audience at another profile without pasting a link the URL filter could see. link in my bio · check my profile · click my profile
  • Crypto & investment scams Get-rich testimonials and "account manager" pitches, including the recovery scams that follow them. bitcoin investment · passive income · forex trading
  • Fake giveaways Prize notices from accounts that are not you, usually posted under your real giveaway to harvest the entrants. you have been selected · claim your prize · claim your reward
  • Fake platform support Accounts posing as platform support: disabled-page threats, copyright notices and appeal forms that lead to a login page. your page will be disabled · copyright violation · verify your page

Every phrase in all five lists, and a tester to try them →

One list per account is the ceiling

CommentDefender gives each account its own rules, a whitelist that overrules them, links and contact details caught without naming a word, and a record of what was hidden and why. 14 days, no card.

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More: Instagram comment moderation · Facebook’s profanity filter · hide or delete a comment?