Instagram has announced a new feature called Restrict, which will allow you to somewhat ban a user who drops unsolicited, abusive or offensive messages on your posts. Instagram has been testing this feature for a while now and has now finally started rolling out the feature to all its users.
You don't exactly ban the user, but using the Restrict feature “comments on your posts from a person you have restricted will only be visible to that person,” Instagram says in its blog post. You can still choose to view comments by the restricted user by tapping “See Comment”; you will have a choice to approve the comment so everyone can see it, delete it, or just let it stay invisible to all.
Stock image of Instagram. Image: Reuters
The Restrict feature can be used by swiping left on a comment, through the Privacy tab in Settings, or directly on the profile of the account you intend to restrict.
Starting today you can protect your account from unwanted interactions with a new feature called Restrict. This is just one of the ways we’re empowering our community to stand up to bullying. https://t.co/65WJuAOdON pic.twitter.com/WOaNnsJC1y
— Instagram (@instagram) October 2, 2019
Instagram also says that once you have restricted a user, you will not receive any notifications for comments from them. Also, direct messages from the restricted user will automatically move to Message Request, and you will not receive notifications for that either.
You will be able to view the DMs from the restricted user but the user will not be able to see when you’ve read their direct messages or when you are active on Instagram. You can choose to “Unrestrict” the account and future messages will go directly to your inbox.
The Restrict feature comes in addition to the Report and Block features that Instagram already offers. With Restrict, any comment on your post from a bully is shadowed, however, with the Block feature you can completely keep the bully out of your account. They can't look you up, they can't DM you, they can't comment on your posts.