Bullying and harassment

Instagram removes bullying content that violates its guidelines, but Mosseri distinguishes removal from measures such as changing comment order and privacy settings28. Meta’s Newsroom describes action under its bullying and harassment, threats and hate-speech rules against violent or dehumanizing attacks on women based on their sex or gender identity9. Reports of bullying or offensive content are anonymous; Instagram’s exception to anonymous reporting concerns intellectual property violations6. Account Status shows removed posts and whether an account risks being disabled, with a Request a Review option for decisions the account owner believes are mistaken6. Mosseri acknowledged in July 2021 that errors in handling millions of daily reports can leave tens of thousands of problematic items, explaining why personal protection tools also matter10.

Instagram applies its visibility protections to the Feed and Stories of the suspected bullying post’s own followers, placing the post lower in those views3. Comment discussions are another part of this approach: Mosseri describes deciding which replies appear at the top as a way to reduce exposure to harassment8. In May 2024, he advised people receiving hostile replies to wait about an hour before reading comments, giving other people time to respond and Instagram time to move negative comments that do not warrant removal farther down the discussion11.

Instagram’s personal bullying protections address persistent harassment, abusive language and sudden unwanted attention through different controls11213. These include restrictions on particular accounts, filters for comments and message requests, and tools for managing many interactions together121314.

Instagram says younger people face a disproportionate amount of online bullying and can be reluctant to report or block peers who bully them12. Teen Accounts default to private for users under 16, including existing users, and for new users under 18, requiring approval of followers before those people can see or interact with their content5. Their strict messaging settings allow contact only from people they follow or are already connected to, and users under 16 need parental permission to make the protections less restrictive5. Meta’s Newsroom also announced protections for adult-managed accounts primarily featuring children, addressing abuse such as sexualized comments and requests for sexual images15. Educators can report potential teen safety issues, including bullying, directly through Instagram’s School Partnership Program, which Meta’s Newsroom said had nearly 17,000 participating schools in September 2026416.