InstagramSocial media app Instagram is planning to launch a new feature that allows its users personalized control over the comments shared on each of their posts.

The company has long had blanket rules for what constitutes appropriate speech on its network, but the new comment filter ability will let each user tweak specific rules to their own liking, since "different words or phrases are offensive to different people" (via The Washington Post).

Some businesses have already gotten a look at the new feature, letting them automatically weed out comments and posters with specific triggering phrases. In the next few weeks, more "high-profile accounts" will get their hands on comment moderation, with the ability to also switch comments off completely on a post-by-post basis.

“Our goal is to make Instagram a friendly, fun and, most importantly, safe place for self expression," said Instagram's head of public policy, Nicky Jackson Colaco, in a statement to The Post. "We have slowly begun to offer accounts with high volume comment threads the option to moderate their comment experience. As we learn, we look forward to improving the comment experience for our broader community.”

Normal users will have to wait a while longer to moderate their own posts, since Instagram said it will launch the feature to all its users "in the coming months." The company is planning on using feedback from higher-volume accounts to fine tune the new feature before handing it out to its more than 300 million daily active users.

Instagram is available for free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

now i see it Avatar
114 months ago
[comment deleted]
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sharewaredemon Avatar
114 months ago
it would be nice to get an iPad app too...
HAHAHAHAHA oh man so true and so funny. Yet for some reason it isn't deemed a priority over there....
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gatorknight904 Avatar
114 months ago
it would be nice to get an iPad app too...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sharewaredemon Avatar
114 months ago
Don't post them in the first place.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the sad truth is that anything posted online can be copied. If you wish to preserve ownership, the only thing to do is to keep them offline, I'm sad to say.
Complete truth.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lunarworks Avatar
114 months ago
Hurray for fascism
Hurray for a lack of education!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thekeyring Avatar
114 months ago
I think a common problem with super popular simple services like Insta is that you can't filter your own feed in any way.

Personally I will unfollow you even if I like you as a person because the images you post regularly annoy me. I'm being forced to filter in that way.

Recently I made a second account for posting skateboarding related content and I follow more liberally on that account as it is more of a promotional type account than a personal representation of my life. Having two accounts has been nice because I have two feeds I can look through, a filtered, and unfiltered feed.

Is providing filtering for the end user a challenge in some way or do you people here think that it's just generally a thing that doesn't really benefit the corporation providing the service?
I'm not sure, but Instagram is an interesting one. If I like one of my friends holiday photos, because of the tags they use I can occasionally have fairly revealing photos of strangers come up on the Search tab marked as "Based on Photos You Liked" ... Leaves a great impression with the other half, I can tell you!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
maxresdefault

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and ...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Triad

Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone May Finally Go All Screen

Tuesday April 15, 2025 6:31 am PDT by
Apple is preparing a "bold" new iPhone Pro model for the iPhone's 20th anniversary in 2027, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. As part of what's being described as a "major shake-up," Apple is said to be developing a design that makes more extensive use of glass – and this could point directly to the display itself. Here's the case for Apple releasing a truly all-screen iPhone with no...
CarPlay Hero

Apple Releases Wireless CarPlay Fix

Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should...