Guide
How to Delete Comments on Instagram
On your own Instagram post you can delete anyone's comment by opening its options and choosing Delete. On someone else's post you can only delete comments you wrote yourself.
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On your own Instagram post, open the comment's options and choose Delete to remove anyone's comment. On someone else's post, you can only delete comments you wrote. Delete several of your own comments at once from Your Activity, and turn on Hidden Words filters so repeat spam is hidden from everyone but its author as soon as it posts.
You need an Instagram account, and a professional (business or creator) account gives more comment controls, so switch to one if you manage a brand.
Decide what to delete, hide, or leave
Not every unwelcome comment deserves the same response. Sort what you see into groups before you touch anything: spam, scams and "link in bio" bait (delete, then block or report), abuse and harassment (delete, and report if it breaks Instagram's rules), competitor promotion (delete, since it borrows your audience and, on ads, your paid reach), off-topic complaints (reply briefly or redirect to support, delete only if it is clearly noise), and legitimate negative feedback (usually leave it and answer it).
That last category is where brands lose the most. A public, helpful reply to a shipping complaint shows every other shopper how you handle problems. Deleting it tends to look worse if the commenter notices, and the chance to resolve the issue in public is gone.
Delete, hide, restrict and block are different tools for different problems:
Action | What it does | Who still sees it | Reversible |
|---|---|---|---|
Delete | Removes the comment permanently | No one | No |
Hide (filters) | Keeps it visible only to you and the person who wrote it, who is not told (Instagram Hidden Words) | The author only | Yes |
Restrict | Makes a person's future comments visible only to them until you approve, delete, or ignore them (Instagram's Help Center) | The restricted person | Yes |
Block | Removes the person's past likes and comments from your posts and stops them messaging you, without telling them (Instagram's Help Center) | No one | No, unblocking does not bring back removed likes and comments |
Before you delete comments on a paid ad, read them first. A comment like "does this ship to Canada?" is a sales objection, and an answer from you can convert the next person who reads it.
Delete a single comment on your own post
Ownership decides what you can remove. On your own post or Reel, you can delete both your own comments and anyone else's. On a post that belongs to someone else, you can only delete the comments you wrote yourself (Instagram's Help Center).
On a computer, hover your cursor over the comment, click Options, then click Delete, per Instagram's own instructions. In the app, open the same options menu on the comment and choose Delete. The gesture that opens that menu changes by device and app version, so check your current screen before you train a team on it, and confirm before you delete: there is no built-in undo.
Act on several comments on one post
When a post goes viral or an ad launches, spam can arrive faster than you can act on it one at a time. Instagram lets you restrict multiple people from your comments in one pass (Instagram's Help Center), and offers ways to act on several comments on a post together, including deleting them or blocking the accounts behind them. The screens for this vary by device and app version, so open your post's comment list and look for a select or manage option rather than a fixed path.
Handle the accounts in the same pass as the comments. If you delete twenty spam comments but leave the accounts alone, the same bots can return on your next post. Block accounts that are plainly spam or scams. Restrict accounts that are borderline, like an irritable customer, so their comments stop showing publicly without you blocking them outright.
Bulk deletion suits clear-cut cases: a flood of identical "DM me to earn money" comments, crypto giveaways, or "link in bio" bait under an ad. Do not use it to clean up a thread that mixes spam with genuine questions. Scroll through first and skip anything a real customer wrote.
Delete comments you've made on other people's posts
You can always remove a comment you wrote yourself, wherever you wrote it. This matters for brand accounts that replied from the wrong profile or left a typo in a customer-facing answer.
To delete one, open the post and its comments, find your comment, open its options, and choose Delete. To delete several comments you have made across different posts at once, Instagram's own instructions are: click Menu in the bottom left, then click Your Activity. Click Interactions on the left, then Comments at the top. Click Select in the top right, then Select next to each comment you want to remove (Sort & Filter in the top right narrows the list first), then click Delete and confirm (Instagram's Help Center). If you delete a comment you wrote on a Reel that was shared to Facebook, it is removed from both apps.
A posted comment generally cannot be edited on Instagram. If editing is not offered in your app, delete it and post a corrected one. A deleted-and-reposted reply may notify the person again and will sit at the bottom of the thread, so keep it short and clear. Reread any customer reply before sending, especially prices, links, and discount codes, since a wrong figure under a public post is hard to walk back.
What you cannot do is delete someone else's comment on someone else's post. If a stranger posts something abusive or scammy on a page you do not control, report the comment through its menu. If the problem comes from an account targeting you specifically, block it, and if it is on a creator's or partner's post, tell them so they can remove it.
Turn on filters so fewer bad comments show up
Deleting after the fact means your audience may already have seen the comment. Filters catch a lot of it first. Instagram's own instructions for the custom list: go to Settings, and below How others can interact with you, choose Hidden Words (the exact label can vary by device). From there you can turn on Hide unwanted comments, which holds back comments Instagram considers offensive, Hide spam, and add your own custom list of words, phrases, numbers, and emojis (Instagram's Help Center).
Build your custom list from what you have actually seen: scam phrases, repeated spam patterns such as "DM me for" or "check my bio," competitor names, and slurs. Add to it every time a new pattern shows up.
Keyword lists have real limits. Spammers swap letters for numbers, add spaces, use emoji instead of words, or rotate phrases faster than you can update a list by hand. Treat filters as a first layer, not a complete defense. You can also choose who can comment on a post, from everyone down to just the people you follow, under Settings in the same How others can interact with you section (Instagram's Help Center). Restricting comments is useful when a thread turns hostile, but do it sparingly on ads and promotional posts, since it also removes the social proof that helps people decide to buy.
When manual deletion stops scaling
Manual deletion and filters work until volume outgrows them. Signs you have reached that point: ad campaigns pulling in more comments than you can read one by one, spam that lands overnight while your team is offline, or several brand accounts to watch at once. At that stage, teams move from deleting comments by hand to a rules-based moderation setup that reads every comment against the same list the second it posts, so spam and scams come down before a real buyer scrolls past them. Exerta's Comment Moderator is built for that, working across your ad comments so your spend is not funding spam and scams under your own creative. Other moderation tools exist too, including NapoleonCat and BrandBastion, and it is worth comparing what each covers against your channels and volume rather than deciding on marketing claims alone.
Review what was deleted and fix what slipped through
Automation and filters make mistakes in both directions. Check the filtered or hidden comments area periodically, and restore anything wrongly caught. A customer asking a real question that got caught by an overbroad keyword is a lost sale.
If a comment will not delete
Refresh the post, or close and reopen the app.
Update to the latest app version.
Confirm you own the post or wrote the comment. If neither, you can only report it.
If a comment will not delete, or a comment you deleted still seems to be there, Instagram's own help pages say this may mean the comment was already deleted and you are viewing an older version of the page (Instagram's Help Center). Pull down to refresh or reopen the post.
A weekly routine
Scan your top posts and every active ad for spam and unanswered questions.
Add any new scam phrases or patterns to your Hidden Words list.
Report and block accounts that keep coming back.
Spot-check hidden comments for false positives.
Fifteen minutes on this each week keeps small problems from becoming a pattern.
FAQ
Can I delete someone else's comment on my own Instagram post?
Yes, on posts and Reels from your own account. Open the comment's options and choose Delete. You cannot delete a comment on a post you do not own, even if it was written about your brand.
What is the difference between deleting and hiding a comment?
Deleting removes it permanently and nobody can see it again. Hiding, through Instagram's filters, keeps the comment visible only to you and the person who wrote it, and that person is not told. Hiding is reversible, deleting is not.
Can I delete several Instagram comments at once?
Instagram offers ways to act on several comments on one post together, and to select and delete several of your own comments across different posts from Your Activity. The exact screens vary by device and app version, so look for a select or manage option on your comments list.
Does the person know I deleted their comment?
Instagram's help pages do not say a notification is sent for a deleted comment. Someone may notice their comment is gone if they revisit the post, but there is no documented alert telling them it happened.
Can I delete comments on an Instagram ad?
Instagram's own pages describe this for posts and Reels but do not call out ads by name, so confirm the options menu in your own ad account rather than assuming it is identical. Read ad comments before deleting them, since some are real questions from buyers rather than spam.
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Get started today
Manual deletion is fine for a one-off spam comment or a typo in your own reply. Once ad comments arrive faster than you can read them one by one, a rules-based moderation setup keeps the thread clean without someone watching it all day. See how it fits your channels and comment volume with a demo.
