Going live on Instagram is a useful way for the host to connect face-to-face with viewers and perform meaningful interaction. However, too many messages or offensive and disrespectful comments can be a reason to distract both the host and the audience. Knowing how to hide comments on Instagram Live can be a help to keep the session focused and enjoyable.
Both the host and the viewers can disable the live comments. For the host view, if you are in a live session for a tutorial and the live comments are disturbing you, you have the option to turn them off, and after you end the session, you can again turn them on.
For a content creator, probably, the complete turning of comments is not worth working on improving their communication with their followers in a live stream. Here is again an option in Instagram to filter some words not to appear in the feedback, or you can block a specific user or manually hide a comment.
So first, let’s see how to disable comments on Instagram Live from viewers.
How to Hide Comments on Instagram Live as a Viewer
Up till today, May 2025, Instagram has no such option to let the viewers hide the comment in any live stream. But yet, I have tried two small tricks to reduce the distraction while you watch.
1. Drag Down on the Comments Section
- While watching a live stream, take your finger and drag down on the messages area.
- This will not remove the comments, but it will minimize them to take less space, and you can watch a relatively bigger screen without people remarks.
2. Type the @ Symbol
- Open the comment box and type @, but don’t send it.
- You will see all the other comments will disappear temporarily, and you can see a clearer live video.
- This will last as long as @ is active. Once you exit the typing mode, the comments will show up again.
Hiding Comments on Instagram as a Host
From the host’s side, Instagram gives you four main options to manage or hide comments during a Live session.
1. Turn Off Commenting Completely
This option hides the comments completely for both the host and the viewers.
- To do this, while you’re live, tap on the three-dot option on the top-right part of the screen
- This will bring up a pop-up menu.
- Click the second option of “Turn off the comments.”
- To resume the remarks, just open the pop-up and turn off the option.
Completely turning off the comments not only discourages authentic engagement with your audience, but it also harms your Instagram account’s visibility because of its algorithm. Being an active Instagram user, I encourage you to use the below-mentioned ways to hide hateful, spammy, or disrespectful responses.
2. Comment Filtering (Hidden Words)
Here is how to set the comment filter to manage your IG Live.
- Go to your account Settings, then go to the Hidden Words option.
- Here, you will see the first option: Hide Comments. This is turned on by default to hide offensive or misleading remarks according to Instagram guidelines.
- The next option is Advanced Comment Filtering. You can turn this on to further filter more words like racist terms, bullying, hate words, etc.
- Now, scroll down to”Manage Custom Words and Phrases”, and click on the arrow shown next to it. Here, you can type customized words, phrases, or emojis that you want to hide. Once you complete the list, click Add, and you will be taken back to the previous page.
- There, make sure the Hide Comments bar is turned on.
3. Manual Comment Control
- If you don’t have a large audience in your live stream, only a few viewers, then you can manually hide a comment by tapping on it.
4. Restrict Comments
You can restrict some people from commenting in your live stream.
- Go to Settings, then to the Comments section.
- Here, the first option is “Block Comments From“, click on the arrow next to it. Then you can select the people you want to block from commenting. In this way, only they will be able to see their own comment, but it won’t be visible to the rest of the community.
Reasons to Hide Comments on Instagram Live
There are good reasons why someone hides people’s remarks or feedback during an Instagram Live. Here are a few.
- Improve Focus: By hiding comments on Instagram, the host focuses on what they’re saying without getting distracted.
- Look More Professional: Hiding messages can make the live session look cleaner and more serious.
- Avoid Rude Messages: It stops people from posting offensive or negative things during the live.
- Use Other Ways to Talk: Some hosts prefer to connect with viewers through DMs or Q&A instead of live reactions.
FAQs
Do Instagram live comments save?
No, Instagram Live comments are not saved by default. Once the live session ends, the responses or remarks disappear. If you share the live replay to your feed or as a video, the video will be saved, but the live comments won’t appear in the replay. It’s just the video without the chat.
Do hidden comments affect the engagement metrics of the live session?
No, they don’t affect your account matrics. When you hide any comment, it becomes hidden from the whole community and is only visible to the person who posted it. However, turning off responses completely or deleting them can affect your credibility, as people may see it as going against freedom of speech.
How can I block a particular user from commenting during my live?
Yes, you can block any person by clicking the three dots to the right of their profile picture and selecting Block. They will not send any messages to you.