How to hide spam comments on Instagram automatically

You can hide spam comments automatically by giving a tool a list of words or links to watch for: when a new comment matches, the tool hides it through Meta’s API. Hiding is gentler than deleting: the comment disappears from public view under your post, and you can show it again later if a rule caught the wrong one.

What the API lets a tool do

Meta’s APIs allow hiding on all three platforms VivaDialog supports:

• Instagram: a tool can hide or unhide a comment on your posts. Two limits from Meta’s Instagram comment reference: comments written by your own account always stay visible even if hidden, and comments on live videos cannot be hidden.
• Facebook Pages: a tool can hide comments on the Page’s posts.
• Threads: a tool can hide a reply to your post. Hiding a reply also hides the replies nested under it, and a nested reply cannot be hidden on its own (Meta’s Threads reply management docs).

A tool can only delete a comment on your own posts, and deleting cannot be undone. Hiding leaves you a way back.

Set up a hide rule in VivaDialog

1. Open Automation and click New rule, then Start from scratch.
2. Under When should this run?, choose New comment.
3. Under Words to look for, list what spam on your account usually contains, separated by commas. Common examples are a competitor’s link, “check my profile”, or a word that only appears in abuse. 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. Open Advanced settings and tick Hide comment. You can also add a tag such as spam so you can review what was hidden.
6. Use Test it first with a sample comment to see whether it matches, then save.

The rule works on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads unless you limit it under Only on. On Threads, new replies are checked every 5 minutes, so a spam reply can stay visible for up to 5 minutes before it is hidden.

Check what the rule hid

Hidden comments stay in the VivaDialog inbox with a Hidden label, and they are marked as resolved so they do not wait for an answer. Each rule’s History lists what it ran on. If a rule hid a real customer’s comment, show it again from the platform’s own app, and adjust the words in the rule.

VivaDialog does not hide comments by hand from the inbox yet; hiding happens through rules.

Keep the word list narrow

A broad word list hides real questions. A few habits help:

• Match on things only spam contains, such as a specific link or phrase, rather than common words like “free” or “price”.
• Start with a tag instead of hiding: run the rule for a few days with only a spam tag, look at what it caught, then turn on Hide comment.
• Keep complaints visible and answer them. A rule can do the opposite of hiding: Skip messages that contain words like “refund” keeps your reply rules away from them so a person on your team answers.

Hiding also counts as an automatic action, so on a newly connected account a burst of hidden comments adds to the daily total that triggers VivaDialog’s slow-down warning. Is Instagram comment automation safe? explains that warning and the other limits.

For every rule option, see how automation rules work.