How to Remove Comments on Instagram Live

Going live on Instagram is a fantastic way to connect with your audience in real time, but a stream of spammy, off-topic, or negative comments can quickly derail the entire experience. Knowing how to manage the conversation is essential for keeping your broadcast positive and focused. This guide will walk you through exactly how to remove and moderate comments on your Instagram Live, giving you full control over your stream.

Why Control Comments on Your Instagram Live?

Before jumping into the "how," it's helpful to understand the "why." Managing your comment section isn't about silencing your audience, it's about creating a safe and productive space for your brand and your community. A chaotic comment section can be distracting for both you and your viewers.

Here are a few common reasons creators choose to moderate comments:

• Handling Trolls and Spam: The most obvious reason. Anonymous trolls and spambots can fill your feed with negativity or irrelevant links, pulling focus from your message.
• Maintaining Focus: If you're hosting a tutorial, a product demo, or a dedicated Q&,A, you might want to temporarily turn off comments to keep everyone's attention on the primary content.
• Conducting Interviews: When interviewing a guest, a constant stream of comments can be distracting for both of you. Hiding comments can help the interview feel more like a focused, professional conversation.
• Protecting Your Community: An unmoderated chat can quickly turn into a space for harassment or bullying among viewers. Active moderation ensures your Live is a welcoming environment for everyone.

The Two Main Ways to Handle Comments: All or One

Instagram gives you two primary methods for dealing with comments during a live broadcast. You can either turn all of them off at once or you can moderate them by removing specific comments or users individually. Your choice will depend on the goal of your Live video.

Method 1: Turn Off All Commenting

This is the quick and easy solution for when you need zero distractions. If you're leading a guided meditation, giving a presentation, or just find the scrolling text overwhelms you, turning off all comments is the simplest way to get back your focus. It creates a broadcast-only experience where viewers can watch and listen without any text on the screen.

The downside? You lose all real-time engagement. You won't see questions, encouragement, or valuable feedback from your audience. It's a powerful tool, but use it intentionally.

Step-by-Step: How to Turn Off All Comments on Instagram Live

The process is simple and can be done right after you start your broadcast.

1. Start your Instagram Live broadcast as you normally would.
2. Once you're live, look at the bottom of your screen where comments appear. Tap the three-dots icon (...) next to the comment box.
3. A menu will pop up with a few options. Select “Turn Off Commenting.”

That's it. The comment stream will instantly disappear for you and all of your viewers. Comments that were posted before you turned them off will also be hidden.

Changed your mind? To bring the comments back, just tap the same three-dots icon (...) again and select “Turn On Commenting.” You can toggle this on and off as many times as you want during your broadcast.

Method 2: Remove a Specific Comment or User

Most of the time, you don't need to shut down the whole conversation. You just need to get rid of one bad apple. Moderating individual comments lets you keep the positive engagement flowing while targeting only the disruptive users. This is the best approach for interactive Q&,As, casual hangouts, or any broadcast where community feedback is welcome.

Step-by-Step: How to Remove a Specific Comment on Instagram Live

When you see a comment that you want to get rid of, take the following steps:

1. Find the problematic comment in the live feed.
2. Tap and hold on that specific comment.
3. A small menu will appear with a couple of options: "Report This Comment" and "Remove [Username] from Live Video".

What do those options mean?

• Report Comment: Use this option if the comment violates Instagram’s community guidelines (e.g., hate speech, harassment, spam). This sends a report to Instagram for review. It doesn't instantly remove the user from your live, but it flags their behavior.
• Remove [Username] from Live Video: This is your direct action. Tapping this will immediately remove the user from your broadcast. They won't be able to re-join, their comment will be deleted, and they won't be notified. This is the most effective way to deal with a troll or spammer during your session.

Pro-Level Moderation: Set Yourself Up for Success Before You Go Live

Doing everything yourself can be stressful, especially when you’re also trying to host. A professional approach involves setting up your moderation tools beforehand so you can focus on your content. Instagram offers two excellent features for proactive moderation.

1. Assign a Moderator to Your Live

Just like on other platforms, you can assign another user to be a moderator for your livestream. This person has the power to manage the comment section for you, leaving you free to host. A moderator can report comments, turn commenting off and on, and remove viewers from the Live.

This is a game-changer for big broadcasts. Asking a trusted friend, teammate, or virtual assistant to moderate your Live session is one of the best ways to ensure a smooth, professional stream.

To add a moderator:

1. Start your Live broadcast.
2. Tap the moderator icon (it looks like a user profile with a plus sign) in the comment bar at the bottom.
3. Search for the person you want to add as a moderator from the list of your current viewers and tap "Add." They will get a notification that they've been made a moderator. You can add more than one if you need to.

Your moderator can then tap on any comment and will have the options to remove or report users on your behalf.

2. Use the "Hidden Words" Filter

Why wait for problematic comments to show up? Instagram has a powerful filtering tool that automatically hides comments containing words, phrases, and emojis that you specify. This is your first line of defense against spam and common troll phrases. You set it up once, and it works across comments, DMs, and your Live videos.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. Go to your Instagram profile and tap the menu icon in the top right.
2. Go to Settings and Privacy.
3. Scroll down and tap on Hidden Words under the “How others can interact with you” section.
4. Here, you can turn on options like "Hide Comments" and "Advanced Comment Filtering." These are good general settings.
5. The most powerful tool here is “Manage custom words and phrases.” Tap on it.
6. You can add a list of words, phrases, and emojis separated by commas. Any comment containing these words will be automatically hidden from your Live. Think about common spam terms, slurs, or anything else you don't want to see.

Setting this up beforehand can catch the majority of automated spam and low-effort trolls before you or your audience even see their comments, making your job as host much easier.

Best Practices for a Healthy Comment Section

• Set Expectations Early: At the beginning of your Live, briefly state the rules. A simple, "Hey everyone, so excited to chat! Let's keep the comments positive and on-topic today," can go a long way.
• Don't Acknowledge Trolls: The moment you give a troll attention, they win. Don't respond to their comments on air. Just use the tools to quietly remove them and move on without breaking your flow.
• Reward Good Behavior: Make a point to shout out viewers who ask great questions or leave supportive comments. It encourages the kind of interaction you want to see.
• Know Your Goal: Decide on the purpose of your Live ahead of time. Is it a chill, interactive chat? Or is it a formal presentation? Your moderation strategy should match your goal. You might keep comments wide open for a chat but turn them off entirely for a structured talk.

Final Thoughts

Managing your comments on Instagram Live is all about using the right tool for the job. Whether you need to completely remove distractions by turning comments off, appoint a moderator to help out, or just remove a single disruptive user, you have the controls to create a positive and safe environment. With these strategies, you can focus less on fire-fighting and more on connecting with your community.

While handling comments during a live stream happens in real time, dealing with the flood of public replies and DMs across all your platforms after the fact has its own challenges. We built Postbase to solve this with a single, unified inbox for all your social media engagement. This way, you can easily respond to every conversation from one place, ensuring no important community interaction gets missed in the chaos.