Managing comments on Meta ads: hide, delete, filter and reply

This guide is built from the Meta Business Help Center, the Facebook Help Center and the Instagram Help Center, checked on 10 November 2026: How to manage comments on your ads in Meta Ads Manager, Best practices for comment moderation on your ads and Manage comment moderation for Facebook Pages, plus the smaller pages linked in each section. Setting up the Page itself and who gets access to it is in our Facebook Page for business guide; what Meta checks before an ad runs is in our Meta ad review guide.

Where ad comments live

Meta's ad comment help opens with the point that matters: "For most advertisers, anyone who can see your Facebook, Instagram or Threads ad can react to it or comment on it." Each ad runs under an identity, your Facebook Page, Instagram profile or Threads profile, and the comments belong to that identity's post. That has two practical effects:

• The moderation settings that hide comments automatically are set on the Page or profile, not on the ad. Meta says these filters "are set at the Facebook Page, or Instagram and Threads profile level, and extend to ads from the Page or profile."
• You can only manage comments on a platform where the ad has an identity there. Meta lists that you can't manage comments on Instagram if you run the ad with your Facebook Page identity, and can't manage replies on Threads without a Threads profile.

To manage or reply to Instagram ad comments, Meta's troubleshooting page for Instagram ad comments says you need to add your Instagram account to your business portfolio or connect it to your Page. "If you've done this but still can't reply to comments, check to make sure you're logged into your Instagram account."

Managing comments in Ads Manager

Ads Manager has a comment view for each ad. Per Meta's steps on desktop:

1. Click the Ads tab, find the ad and click Edit below its name.
2. In the left column, click ... to the right of the ad name.
3. Choose More options. Depending on the objective, the placements and whether there are comments, you see Manage Facebook comments and/or Manage Instagram comments.
4. A pop-up shows the ad with its reactions and comments or replies.

From there you can like comments (Facebook), reply (Facebook and Threads), and use ... next to a comment to Hide comment or Report comment (Facebook, Instagram and Threads; reporting is not available on Threads yet). The same tools are also available from your Facebook, Instagram and Threads notifications.

Meta lists a few cases where the comment view isn't available: the ad must be published (not a draft), dynamic creative must be off, and it can't be an Advantage+ catalog ad. If the option is missing, check those first, then the identity rules above.

Hiding vs deleting a comment

Ads Manager offers hide and report. Deleting is done on the post itself, on Facebook or in Business Suite. The two do different things:

Action	Who still sees the comment	Can you undo it?
Hide (Facebook)	The person who wrote it and their friends. Replies to it are hidden too.	Yes, Unhide from the Hidden by This Page view.
Hide (Instagram)	You and the person who wrote it. Meta says the commenter "won't be able to see that it's been hidden".	Yes, from View hidden comments in the app.
Delete	No one. Facebook says the comment "will be removed from the post."	No.
Report	Meta reviews it against the Community Standards.	The outcome is Meta's decision.

On Facebook, Meta's page on hiding a comment on your Page explains why hiding is often the better first step: the comment stays visible to the writer and their friends, which "can help prevent more unwanted comments." Some details from the same page and from deleting a comment from your Page:

• Hiding a comment also hides its replies. If you hide only a reply, the original comment stays visible to everyone.
• You need Facebook access to the Page. Meta says that with task access "you can't hide, sort or delete comments on Page posts" on Facebook.
• To see what is hidden, click Most Relevant at the top of the comments and pick Hidden by This Page. That list also shows comments hidden by the profanity filter and by your blocked words. It needs comment ranking turned on, which it is for Pages by default, and it works only on a computer or the Facebook app for Android.
• From the hidden list you can unhide, report the comment, or block or report the profile. You can ban the profile or Page by going to it directly.

On Instagram, Meta's Hidden Words page says manual hiding is done in the Instagram mobile app (tap Hide under the comment), and that "hidden comments are still included in your total comment count." Instagram's delete page confirms you can delete other people's comments on your own posts.

Word blocks and the profanity filter

Hiding by hand doesn't scale on an ad with hundreds of comments. Meta's best practices for ad comments point to two Page settings that hide comments automatically and "extend to ads from the Page." Both live under Settings & privacy > Settings > Followers and public content after you switch into the Page.

Blocked words. Per Facebook's word-blocking page, choose Hide comments containing certain words from your Page:

• Up to 1,000 keywords in any language: words, phrases or emoji.
• Facebook also hides variations, "common misspellings, plurals, abbreviations and words that use numbers or symbols," and they don't count toward the 1,000. Meta's example: blocking "tree" also blocks TREE, t.r.e.e., tr33, treee and #tree.
• You can paste a list, upload a .CSV under Options, or copy a list from one Page to another.
• It only works on content the Page created, not other people's posts or posts where you are a collaborator. The writer and their friends still see the hidden comment, and you can unhide it.
• With task access you can choose keywords in Meta Business Suite, but you won't be able to review or remove the variations.

Profanity filter. Toggle Hide posts and comments with profanity. Meta's profanity filter page says Facebook decides what to hide "by using the most commonly reported words and phrases marked offensive by the community." As with blocked words, hidden comments stay visible to the writer and their friends.

The Page moderation page lists other settings in the same place, such as country and age restrictions, tag review and blocking people, apps or Pages. Those affect the Page as a whole rather than comments on one ad.

Instagram: Hidden Words and turning comments off

Instagram's equivalent is Hidden Words, set on the profile and, per Meta's ad help, extending to ads from that profile. From the Instagram Help Center:

• Hide unwanted comments automatically hides comments with common offensive words, phrases or emoji "that are likely to be abusive or mean." It is on by default.
• Custom words and phrases lets you add your own words, phrases, numbers or emoji, separated by commas. On Instagram.com it's under Settings > How others can interact with you > Hidden Words.
• When a comment is hidden this way, "the person who sent it won't know."

Instagram also lets you turn commenting off for a post, from Options next to the post or under Advanced settings before you share it. Turning it off hides the existing comments; turning it back on restores them. Instagram Help documents this for posts you share. Meta's ad comment help doesn't describe a separate switch for turning comments off on an ad, on Facebook or Instagram; the tools it lists are hide, report, blocked words and the filters.

Comments in Meta Business Suite

If you already answer messages in Business Suite (set up in our Facebook Page guide), its Inbox also handles comments. Per Meta's page on managing comments in Inbox:

• You need community activity permissions for the Page or Instagram account.
• The Facebook comments and Instagram comments tabs list posts; click one to see its comments. Filters include Unread, Follow up, Done and Spam, and for Facebook, Page comments and Group comments. Meta describes Page comments as comments "on organic posts published directly to your Facebook Page's feed," so for comments on ads, the Ads Manager view above is the direct route.
• On a comment you can react, reply, send the person a message, delete, hide (Facebook) or report. On Instagram, "You can't send a message in response to comments posted more than 7 days ago."
• Mark a post Move to done or Follow up to keep track of what has been handled.

What Meta recommends

Meta's two best-practice pages, for ads and for Business Suite, come down to the same list:

• Reply to both negative and positive comments where you can, "to show that your brand is listening." Meta adds: "It's important to respond to comments honestly and fairly."
• Turn on the profanity filter and block words so comments are hidden automatically.
• Check comments regularly, in Page settings, Ads Manager, Business Suite or a third-party API partner tool.
• Review hidden comments "to decide whether to keep, unhide or delete the comment."
• Report comments or people you believe break the Community Standards, and ban people who keep posting spam.
• On Instagram, restrict someone to limit their interaction: their new comments on your posts are only visible to them. Meta notes this "is not the same as blocking someone."

How we handle ad comments

This is our own practice, not Meta guidance:

• Before a campaign starts, we check the profanity filter, the blocked-word list (competitor names, spam phrases, slurs) and Instagram Hidden Words on every Page and profile the ads run from, because those settings follow the ads.
• We hide rather than delete by default. A hidden comment can be restored if we got it wrong; a deleted one can't. We delete spam, scams and personal data posted in public.
• Genuine complaints get a short public reply and an offer to continue in messages. A product question in the comments is usually a question other people have too, so it gets a public answer.
• We check new ads daily in their first week, when comment volume is highest, then fold it into the weekly review alongside reporting.
• Repeated questions or objections in comments go back into the ad copy or the landing page.

Frequently asked questions

Can you turn off comments on Facebook ads?

Meta's help for ad comments doesn't describe a switch to turn comments off on a Facebook ad. The tools it lists are hiding and reporting comments in Ads Manager, plus the Page's blocked words and profanity filter, which hide matching comments on ads from the Page automatically.

Does the person know when I hide their comment?

On Instagram, Meta says the person won't know. On Facebook, a hidden comment stays visible to the person who wrote it and their friends and is hidden from everyone else, so it looks normal to them.

Can I delete comments in Meta Ads Manager?

Ads Manager's comment view offers Hide comment and Report comment. Deleting is done on the post itself on Facebook or Instagram, or from the comments tabs in the Meta Business Suite Inbox.

How many words can I block on a Facebook Page?

Up to 1,000 keywords, phrases or emoji. Facebook also hides common variations such as misspellings, plurals and words written with numbers or symbols, and those don't count toward the limit.

Why can't I see Instagram comments on my ad in Ads Manager?

The ad has to run with an Instagram profile, not only your Facebook Page identity, and the Instagram account has to be added to your business portfolio or connected to your Page. The ad also has to be published, without dynamic creative, and not an Advantage+ catalog ad.

For more on Meta ads, see our guides to Meta ads basics, Meta block lists and brand safety, Instagram for business and automated rules in Meta Ads Manager.