Why aren't my Instagram comments being hidden?

First, make sure it really is still visible to others. A hidden comment is still shown to the person who wrote it, and anyone can still choose to view hidden comments in Instagram. If you're checking from the commenter's account, or someone says "I can see my comment", it may well be hidden already.

1. Was the comment a reply inside a thread?

Hide rules only check top-level comments. A reply to another comment, inside its thread, isn't checked. Hide those in Instagram, or in CommenSense: Posts, then the Bulk actions tab (Basic plan and above).

If it's the same person every time, restrict them instead: restrictions also catch their replies inside threads. See how to hide or delete one person's comments.

2. Was the comment there before you turned the rule on?

Rules work on new comments, from the moment you select Save changes. They don't go back through comments that were already on your posts. Clean those up with Bulk actions, or hide them in Instagram.

3. Was it your own comment?

Comments from the Instagram account itself are never hidden.

4. Does the post have its own settings?

Open Posts, pick the post and look at the note at the top of the Moderation tab:

• "This post follows your account-wide settings" means the rules on the Comment moderation page apply.
• "This post has its own moderation settings" means only the switches on this tab apply. A rule you switched on for the account doesn't apply here unless it's also on for this post.

To go back to the account-wide rules, select Use account settings.

5. Is the right rule switched on, and saved?

Open Comment moderation and check the Hide automatically tab. Each kind of comment has its own switch, and nothing changes until you select Save changes.

6. Is it something the AI can reasonably miss?

The first five rules rely on CommenSense's AI reading the comment, and it judges tone the way a person would. Some comments are borderline:

• Excited swearing stays up on purpose. With Offensive language on, a comment that's clearly a compliment, like "this is f***ing amazing", isn't hidden.
• Mild criticism isn't negative. "Not my favourite colour" is an opinion, not an insult.
• Spam that looks like a real comment can slip through.

For anything you never want on your posts, add the exact words to Your keywords: keywords are matched exactly, with no judgement involved. A keyword matches anywhere in a comment, ignoring capital letters.

7. Have your comment scans run out?

When your comment scans for the period are used up, the five AI rules stop until they reset. Your keywords and Comments without text keep working. Home shows Comment scans used up when this happens, and Plan usage shows the reset date. See what comment scans are and when they reset.

8. Is the account connected and active?

On Home, look for a Needs your attention box:

• "@username needs reconnecting": CommenSense can't act on the account's comments until you reconnect it.
• "@username is paused": your plan covers fewer accounts than you've connected, so this one is paused, and its comments aren't checked. Comments posted while it was paused aren't checked later, either. See paused, disconnected or deleted.

Also check you're looking at the right account: rules are set per Instagram account, and the one shown at the top of the sidebar is the one you're changing.

Was it just slow?

A comment is usually hidden within seconds. On a very busy post, or when Instagram asks apps to slow down, it can take a few minutes. Occasionally CommenSense pauses all sending to Instagram, for example during an Instagram outage; you get a notification when that starts and when it ends.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with a link to the post, roughly when the comment was posted, and the rule you expected to hide it.