Instagram to Let All Users Moderate Comments

Design Roast

Early last month we reported on how Instagram was introducing moderation to comments on business accounts. This meant they could block certain words so comments that featured them would be deleted and you wouldn't need to be going through your comments every single day. There were a few issues, but now they're rolling this ability out to all users which could help prevent spam and bullies for everyone.

As before it's best to note that this moderation won't magically start working straight away. Comment moderation is something you have to turn on within the app settings, but this kind of optional moderation is a good thing. Not only is it your choice whether you allow comments at all and if you do whether they can say what they like or not but you can also control what you moderate.

If someone keeps spamming you with a single, pointless word that people don't use generally then you can block it in the same way as you can block an insult that you really don't like. The moderation is all down to you so it can be tailored to your specific needs and requirements.

The only problem is that comment moderation is still slow and it still works on a reporting basis. This means that you will still be bugged for a while with the spam and offensive messages and all you can do is keep reporting the comments over that word. Eventually, the moderation will snap into place and you won't see those comments anymore but if someone comes up with a new insult then you do have to go through the same process. If you're trying to look professional or are being seriously harassed then this is definitely something to put in place but you do have to remember that it's not an instant fix.

This feature is first being rolled out to high profile users so this means people like celebrities. Considering the amount of comments they get, there probably is a lot of spam to weed out and I expect a few of them will wind up turning comments off completely. This feature will roll out to all users over the coming months but we don't know how long it will take.