Of Instagram it is often said that people are more friendly and sympathetic than on Twitter . However, there are rude users everywhere, annoying people and dangers to avoid to make your experience on Instagram satisfactory. In this sense, you can make use of the privacy and security tools of Instagram so that everything goes smoothly.
It does not matter that you have been on Instagram for years or that you have just created an account. You are always in time to protect your Instagram account and avoid unpleasant comments or your publications being seen by strangers.
Make your account Private Instagram
It is the most practical option to protect your privacy on Instagram. Making your account private will prevent anyone from seeing your videos, photos, or stories. They will only be accessible, by default, to those you have in your list of followers .
Instagram itself defines a private account as “only the followers you have approved can see the content you share, including your videos or photos on pages of tags or locations and your followers and lists of followed accounts ”. Peeping-proof.
By default, your account is public. To make it private, go to Instagram, tap on your profile photo, then on the drop-down and, finally, on Settings> Privacy> Private account . This option is reversible, so you can always go back to the public account and vice versa.
Activate two-step verification
We started with privacy on Instagram. Now it's security. Protecting your Instagram account from peepers is important. It is also protecting yourself from those who want to impersonate your identity by stealing your account .
First of all, Instagram recommends that you choose “a unique password and do not share it. You can change it whenever you want and as many times as you need ”. Also, to make it more secure, turn on two-factor authentication. “This function requests a security code that you receive by SMS when you log in to an unknown device.”
To use two-step authentication on Instagram you must go to your profile, touch the drop-down menu in the upper right corner and then on Settings> Security . You will find the option Two-step authentication .
You must activate Authentication application and then touch Manually configure> Copy password . That key must be pasted into an authentication application such as Google, Microsoft or Authy.
After linking your Instagram account to the authentication app, copy the six-digit code and paste it on Instagram.
Block Instagram accounts
Instagram has measures in place to protect your privacy on Instagram from strangers. If someone behaves in a reprehensible way or you do not want them to have access to your account, you can block accounts even if you have given them permission previously.
According to Instagram itself, “if you block someone, they will not be able to see your profile , your publications or your stories. The person will not receive any notification of the blockade ”. In addition, you can activate and deactivate the lock whenever you want.
Within Instagram, we access the profile of that user. We touch on the drop-down menu and then on Block . From Settings> Privacy> Blocked accounts you will see the accounts already blocked, you can unblock them and also add more accounts to the list by clicking on the More symbol.
A less drastic solution is to prevent that user from commenting on your posts. Your comments will not be visible except by yourself. You will find this option in Settings> Privacy> Comments> Block comments from . In People you must add the names of those users and then in Block . In the future you can unblock this option for each user.
Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
Hide offensive comments
Even if you trust the accounts that follow you, you never know what comments they will post on your photos and videos. To advance to possible offensive comments , we can activate a previous filter so that those comments are automatically hidden.
You will find this option in Settings> Privacy> Filtered words . In Hide offensive content you can activate Hide comments . Instagram will detect offensive or bad words.
You can add words to that list from Settings> Privacy> Filtered words> Manage custom word list . By clicking on Add to list you can include words, phrases, numbers or emoticons to hide the comments that these elements contain. You can expand or reduce this list by adding or removing elements.
Deactivate comments
If, directly, you do not want anyone to comment on your publications, you can disable Instagram comments. This will prevent someone from saying something inappropriate and you will not have to be monitoring the comments.
When you make a publication, be it a video or a photograph, you must click on the drop-down menu of that publication. Among the options you will see Deactivate comments . From now on, you will see Enable comments .
Another option is to disable comments before posting. When adding a caption or location to a video or photo, touch Advanced settings> Disable comments .
Report accounts, comments and messages
When you meet someone who does not respect the rules of Instagram or your privacy on Instagram and publishes your content without permission or names you or simply behaves without the proper respect, you can report it.
It is possible to report a post, an account, comments on that account, or private messages. Whatever the case, in the drop-down menu you will see the option Report . You must indicate the reason for the complaint and, finally, click on Send complaint .
In the words of Instagram, “Instagram reviews a maximum of 30 of the most recent messages that have been sent in reported conversations involving accounts located in the European Union.” Also, the “ report is anonymous unless you report an intellectual property infringement. The reported account will not see who did it. ”
