Skip to main content

Instagram will finally let you choose who can tag or mention you

Instagram will soon allow users to choose who is allowed to tag them in posts.

Announced on Tuesday, a new option in the Instagram settings will allow users to select from three different settings when allowing @mentions. The feature is rolling out with two other updates designed to help curb bullying on the platform.

Inside the privacy section of Instagram settings, the new feature allows users to adjust tag settings by going to Interactions > Tags. Instagram users can select to allow tags from everyone, only people you follow, or no one.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Previously, Instagram only had an option to manually approve every tag, a control that still remains an option. With the update, users can choose manual tag approval, or choose to automatically allow tags from users that they also follow, or to just turn off tagging in general.

While not user-specific, the update could help eliminate spam tags as well as potentially limiting the spread of cyberbullying, since adding a tag can expand the number of people who view a post.

Instagram is now also allowing users to manage comments by adding the ability to delete multiple comments at once. The feature is found in the “…” menu on the post under the “Manage Comments” option. The tool will likely be most helpful for larger and public accounts regularly dealing with a high volume of spam and other unwanted comments.

Finally, Instagram users may soon also be able to pin favorite comments to the top, so followers looking in the comments will see that comment first. Unlike the other two features, Instagram says the testing of this feature is beginning soon, so users won’t see this option for a while yet.

The option to adjust tag permissions and bulk delete comments is beginning to roll out now, Instagram said

Editors' Recommendations

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
You can now use the Add Yours sticker on Reels for Facebook and Instagram
A series of three mobile screenshots on a gray background showing the new Add Yours sticker for Facebook Reels.

As of today, Facebook and IG creators have six new features they can use for their Reels content. But of the six, the most intriguing feature is support for a sticker prompt that was first used and popularized in Instagram Stories.

Meta announced via a Facebook video post that, in addition to all of its other new Reels-focused features, it would now offer support for its Add Yours sticker prompt in Reels for both Instagram and Facebook.

Read more
Instagram is undoing its TikTok-like changes you hated so much
New features for Instagram Reels

Popular social media service Instagram is reconsidering its pivot to a TikTok-style video feed after recent changes proved to be highly unpopular with its fan base.

Over the past several weeks, Instagram has been testing a version of the app that opened into a feed of full-screen photos and videos, seemingly attempting to morph the service into something that more closely resembles TikTok. Similarly, the new feed also disproportionately pushes seemingly random "recommended" posts, squeezing out content from those folks that Instagram users have actually chosen to follow.

Read more
A data breach can cost millions of dollars — and you might be paying it
A dark mystery hand typing on a laptop computer at night.

According to a recent report from IBM Security, data breach costs are constantly on the rise. Unfortunately, this spells bad news not just for the companies involved, but also for the customers -- in more ways than one.

The report, which states that an average data breach is now estimated to cost $4.4 million, exposes the fact that the skyrocketing costs of data breaches directly affect the prices paid by the end customer.

Read more