How to Control Sensitive Content in your Instagram Explore Tab

With a thriving active user base of over a billion, Instagram is one of the most popular social networking sites around. For influencers, Instagram is the place to be, allowing them to connect to a diverse user base with only a couple of taps. Such exposure is great for those who are capable of harnessing it, but it can also make people susceptible to sensitive content — stuff they’d rather not see on social media.

Understanding the issue, Facebook has come up with a more robust Sensitive Control Center for Instagram, which would allow you to tinker with exposure and see only what you want to see. Today, we’ll take a closer look at the same and tell you how you could use the new feature to make your Instagram Explore tab as appropriate as possible.

What is Sensitive Content Control?

Sensitive Content Control is a new feature for Instagram mobile applications on Android and iOS. This would allow you to see less triggering content on the Explore feed. Instagram’s new guidelines might be about striking a balance between entertainment and sensitivity — something the likes of TikTok and Pinterest are also looking into.

Which posts are deemed sensitive?

Instagram has always been vigilant about violence, nudity, harassment, and the likes. However, setting the bar for everyone is not as straightforward as it used to be. Thanks to the diverse fan base, a section of users might deem something inappropriate while another section would find it entertaining. With Sensitive Content Control, Instagram is looking to strike a balance between the two factions. It will not remove the posts from Instagram completely but will help you limit visibility.

To know more about the stuff that’s allowed, click on this link to learn all about Instagram’s Community Guidelines.

How does Sensitive Content Control work?

Posts that do not meet Instagram’s Community Guidelines are flushed out immediately. However, there’s another filter that Instagram imposes on itself, something they like to call Recommendation Guidelines. These rules — tighter than Community Guidelines — come into play when Instagram is recommending something to you through the Explore feed or IGTV recommendations.

With Sensitive Control enabled set to a stricter setting, Instagram would filter out offensive stuff from its list of recommendations and possibly offer you a cleaner feed. Unfortunately, Instagram/Facebook hasn’t clarified exactly what they will filter out. However, we do expect to see a cleaner explore feed with Sensitive Content Control dialed to the max.

How to enable Sensitive Content Control

Enabling Sensitive Content Control is pretty straightforward inside the Instagram app. First, launch the app on your phone and go to your profile page. Now, tap on the hamburger button at the top-right corner.

Now, go to ‘Settings.’

Then, tap on ‘Account.’

Next, go to ‘Sensitive content control.’

The option would be set to ‘Limit(Default).’

To restrict as much as possible, tap on ‘Limit Even More.’

When a confirmation box appears, tap on ‘Ok’ to start restricting more content.

Exit the area when done. Your Explore feed on Instagram should now be cleaner than ever.

How to disable Sensitive Content Control

Feel like you’re missing out on all the fun stuff? Maybe it’s time to dial Sensitive Content Control down, allow pretty much everything on your Explore feed. To do that, first, go to your profile page and tap on the hamburger menu button at the top-right corner of your screen.

Now, tap on ‘Settings.’

Next, go to ‘Account’ to explore options about your Instagram account.

Then, open ‘Sensitive Content Control.’

Set the setting to ‘Allow’ to lift sensitivity restrictions.

Tap on ‘Ok’ when asked to confirm.

That’s it!

Why is Sensitive Content Control not available for you?

Instagram’s Sensitive Content Control is hot off the press, meaning the feature might not yet be available for everyone in the market. So, if you’re not seeing the setting, chances are, you might not see this setting until the feature rolls out for your particular smartphone.

Additionally, Facebook has clarified that not every Instagram user would get the option to allow all content on Instagram. If someone is under 18, they might not get the option to allow all posts right away. Users who are over 18 and are hailing from a supported region would be eligible to tinker with the Sensitive Content Control settings.

RELATED