How to bulk hide bad comments on Instagram, and what you can't

You cannot select hundreds of existing Instagram comments and hide them all at once with VivaDialog. What you can do is stop new bad comments from staying visible: a keyword automation hides each new comment that matches your word list, as it arrives. Instagram’s own Hidden Words setting filters offensive comments before they reach you. For a backlog that is already on your posts, hiding stays manual in Instagram, one comment at a time. This article covers all three, so you can decide how much of your daily volume each one takes.

Hiding is one part of the Instagram comment automation guide, alongside replies and DMs.

What bulk hiding means, and what is possible

VivaDialog hides comments through an automation only. It does not run an automation over comments that are already there, because automations act on new comments, and it has no hide button in the inbox yet. We would rather say that plainly than have you find out after connecting your account.

Step 1: let Instagram filter the obvious

Instagram has its own comment filters, and they work before any tool is involved. In Instagram’s Help Center article on hiding comments or message requests you don’t want to see, these are the settings that matter for volume:

• Hide unwanted comments hides comments with common offensive words, phrases, or emoji. Instagram describes it as on by default.
• Hidden Words lets you add your own words, phrases, numbers, or emoji, separated by commas, and hides comments that contain them.
• A hidden comment still counts in the comment total, and the person who wrote it is not told.

Menu names can differ between app versions, so check the current wording in your app. If hundreds of bad comments a day share a few phrases, putting those phrases here is the cheapest fix, and it needs no other tool.

Step 2: hide what the filter misses with an automation

Your own word list covers what Instagram does not know about, such as a competitor’s link, a scam phrase that keeps changing, or a word that only your audience would find abusive. In VivaDialog:

1. Open Automations, click New rule on the Rules tab, and start from Hide spam comments, or choose Start from scratch.
2. Under What starts this automation?, choose New comment.
3. Under Words to look for, list the words or phrases, separated by commas. For links or patterns that change, open Advanced settings and use a regular expression instead.
4. Under How should it reply?, choose Don’t reply.
5. In Advanced settings, tick Hide comment. Add a tag such as spam so you can review what was hidden later.
6. Use Test it first with a sample comment, then click Save rule.

The automation works on Facebook Pages, Instagram, and Threads unless you limit it with Only on. You need to be an owner or admin of the workspace to create it.

How to hide spam comments on Instagram automatically has the full setup and the platform details. What changes at hundreds of comments a day is the care you take with the word list.

Run it with a tag first

A word list that is too broad hides real customers. With a volume of hundreds a day, a few wrong hides is a lot of people. A safer start:

1. Save the automation with only the spam tag, and leave Hide comment unticked.
2. After a few days, open the inbox, filter by the spam tag, and read what it caught.
3. Remove words that caught real questions, then tick Hide comment.

Match on things only spam contains. Common words such as “free” or “price” catch the customers you want. To keep a real complaint visible and answered, add words like refund under Skip messages that contain, so the hide automation leaves those for your team.

What hiding does not cover

• Comments on a Live video. Meta does not allow hiding them, and the automation skips them.
• Your own account’s comments. They stay visible even if hidden, and never trigger an automation.
• Threads replies. Hiding a reply also hides the replies nested under it. New Threads replies are checked every 5 minutes, so a bad reply can stay visible for up to 5 minutes first.
• Comments before you switched it on. The automation acts on comments that arrive after it is on.
• Speed. A comment is hidden after Meta tells VivaDialog about it, which we do not control, so we do not promise a time. The automation’s History shows when each one ran.

Hidden comments stay in the VivaDialog inbox with a Hidden label and are marked as resolved, so they do not wait for an answer. If an automation hid a real customer’s comment, show it again from Instagram itself and adjust the words.

Does hiding use my quota?

Hiding does not use your conversation quota. Replies do, so an automation that only hides and tags costs none. Hiding is still an automatic action: when an account connected less than 7 days ago runs more than 25 automatic actions in 24 hours, the Automations page shows a slow-down warning. Is Instagram comment automation safe? explains it. Plan quotas are on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I delete comments in bulk instead?

VivaDialog does not delete comments. Hiding leaves a way back, while deleting cannot be undone.

Will the person know I hid their comment?

Instagram says the person is not told that a comment is hidden. Check Instagram’s help article for the current behavior.

Do I need an Instagram professional account?

Yes. VivaDialog connects Instagram Business or Creator accounts linked to a Facebook Page. Connect your Instagram account has the steps.

VivaDialog is in early access right now, and participants get the Growth plan free for 30 days. See the pricing page.