Restrict

Instagram explained that Restrict was developed because young people feared blocking, unfollowing or reporting a bully could escalate the situation, particularly when they also encountered that person offline4. Meta’s Newsroom described another reason for this quiet approach: people could protect their accounts while still keeping an eye on the bully’s behavior2. In July 2026, Adam Mosseri recommended Restrict as a way for people experiencing harassment to regain control over their Instagram experience3.

Restrict leaves a person’s comments on your posts visible to that person, so it still looks to them as though they have commented normally34. Other people cannot see those comments unless you approve them, as Instagram explained and Mosseri reiterated in July 202634. You also stop receiving notifications for the restricted person’s comments1.

Restrict moves messages from the restricted account into Message Requests rather than leaving them in your main conversations56. You can read those messages without sending a read receipt—the indication that you have read a message—as both Instagram and Mosseri have explained36. The restricted account also cannot see when you are online or active on Instagram16.

Restrict can be applied from someone’s profile or the Privacy tab in Settings, entry points documented by Meta’s Newsroom2. In May 2020, Instagram announced tools for restricting multiple accounts that post negative comments at once, rather than handling each account individually7. It reported encouraging early feedback and said the tools helped people, especially those with larger followings, maintain a positive environment on their accounts7.