Instagram privacy settings

By default, all profiles are Public on Instagram. You can set your child’s account to ‘Private’ by selecting the 3 dots icon in the top right of the profile view and on the settings screen turning on ‘Private Account.

Remove followers – Go to your profile and tap ‘Followers’ at the top of the screen. Select the follower(s) you wish to remove by tapping on the 3 dots and tapping remove. They will not be notified but they will no longer see your posts.

Keeping comments safe – Tap profile icon, and then the three dots on the righthand side of the screen to see the menu. Scroll down to see comments.  Ensure ‘Hide Offensive Comments’ is switched on. You can also block comments from specific followers. If you’d like to turn this off before posting, click on advanced settings before posting and swipe to ‘Turn off commenting’.

Unfollowing a user – If your child no longer wants to see a particular user’s content or doesn’t like what they see, simply unfollow that person.

This can be done directly on their profile page by tapping the person icon at the top of the page and confirming ‘Unfollow’ or from their profile under ‘followers’ and un-selecting ‘Following’.

Turning off comments – Tap the 3 dots above your child’s post and select ‘Turn Off Commenting’.

Managing Story Settings –  Ensure that your child changes settings to only allow followers to post message replies to their Story. These will not be public but direct messages.

Blocking a user and reporting inappropriate content: A user can be blocked, or their content reported as inappropriate, by tapping the 3 dots in the top right-hand corner of their profile. Select ‘Block’ and/or ‘Report ’.

Reporting a comment for abuse or spam – Select the comment under the post. Tap the exclamation mark at the top of the screen. Tap Spam or Scam or Abusive Content. Select a reason for why the comment is abusive.

Reporting someone in immediate physical danger – If your child comes across content shared by a friend that may suggest they may be at risk of self-injury this can be reported by taping the 3 dots above the post, selecting ‘Report’ and choosing ‘ It’s inappropriate > Self injury.’

To turn off push notification from the app you can simply go to settings, and then scroll and tap ‘Push notifications’ and select ‘off’ for the options listed.