Pornography on Instagram: A Parent’s Guide to Protecting Kids

ClevGuard Support: Monitor Devices with Others' Permission.

Is Instagram only a place to share vacation photos or selfies? If your answer is yes, then think again! Pornography on Instagram is a major concern these days, especially for parents. Although Instagram claims to be a moderated platform with numerous community guidelines, the reality is different. Plenty of inappropriate content manages to sneak in behind innocent-looking hashtags or algorithm-driven recommendations. Even hashtags like #pornoInstagram and similar escape the platform’s rules and might expose your kids to unwanted or explicit content.

So, parents must stay vigilant and keep their kids away from such content. This article discusses in detail why pornography on Instagram deserves attention and how you can block it. It also shares the ways to respond and effectively protect your children.

Part 1. Pornography on Instagram: Why it Deserves Attention

It’s pretty easy for the kids to find pornography online. A survey conducted by the Children’s Commissioner reveals that 38% of young adults aged 16-21 have stumbled accidentally across pornography online. Twitter is where the percentage is highest (41%), followed by Instagram (33%), Snapchat (32%), and search engines (30%).

Not only that, Protect Young Eyes concluded in one of their experiments that, because of photos and videos, pornographic content is prevalent on Instagram. Kids can use hashtags and the mentioned links in the user profile to access such content. This means that, although Instagram has established robust community guidelines to prevent them, they might not be working as they should.

Now that you’ve understood how prevalent pornography is on Instagram, here are the ways your kids can be exposed to it:

Finding Directly: Users of any age can find pornographic content on Instagram, either accidentally or with a bit of effort, through Instagram’s search function. They can search for hashtags like #beautiful or #hot, which might sneak in inappropriate content. Besides, hashtags in foreign languages add another layer of complexity. Kids are much ahead of the curve when it comes to monitoring terms that can lead to dangerous content.

Via External Links: Most adult websites and individual stars have Instagram accounts. However, these websites fall directly under monitoring, and they can’t risk having their account suspended. To prevent this, they post semi-adult content on their feed and add external links to their bio, which can lead users to full-fledged adult content that is easily accessible through Instagram’s web browser.

Direct Messages: Instagram has a Vanish Mode feature that allows users to send messages that disappear once they’ve been read. This might embolden users to share explicit content with your child, without leaving any trace behind.

Part 2. How to Block Pornography on Instagram

As a parent, it’s crucial to learn how to block porn on Instagram to keep your kids safe. The following are the ways that you can employ:

1Filtering Out Certain Words and Phrases

Filtering out offensive or explicit words can be a way to deal with unwanted content on the social media platform. Instagram has a built-in setting that filters out comments or searches containing such words or phrases.

Step 1. Access the Profile section on your kids’ Instagram and tap the three-line icon at the top-right corner.

Step 2. In the search bar, type Hidden Words to find the settings. The setting should appear when you type the first three letters.

Step 3. Next, tap the settings and type the desired words or phrases into the text box. Once you input all the explicit terms, tap the Add button to ensure your kids’ comment box and feed remain clean.

2Blocking Certain Users

Blocking or reporting certain users is another way to keep your child away from pornography on Instagram. The blocked users won’t be able to view your child’s stories or posts, nor can they make comments or interact with them via messages. Also, reporting someone keeps the moderation team informed, who may take necessary actions if the content is deemed inappropriate.

So, access your kids’ following list and sort the unwanted or obscene profiles, and block them by following the steps in order:

Step 1. Access the profile that you want to block and tap the three dots icon.

Step 2. Tap Block from the pop-up menu to prevent the user from sending any messages or making any comments on your child’s posts.

Step 3. Alternatively, you can tap Report to send the profile for manual review. Then tap Something about this account > Something else > Nudity or Sexual Activity.

Step 4. Select from any of the available options and tap Submit Report. The moderators will review the profile against the report and remove it if it is found to be true.

3Enable Sensitive Content Control

Rather than reviewing and blocking individual users, Instagram lets you control the type of information the user sees in sections such as Reels. By adjusting this setting, you can limit your kids’ exposure to explicit content, so here are the steps:

Step 1. Head over to your kids’ Profile section and tap the three-line icon to access the Settings.

Step 2. Scroll through the settings to find and tap the Content Preferences feature.

Step 3. Tap Sensitive Content from the list of available options to limit your kids’ exposure to unwanted content.

Step 4. Lastly, select the Less option, followed by the Confirm button to activate the feature.

Part 3. Parental Control Options for Instagram

Instagram has a built-in set of parental controls under its Family Center feature. It’s a pretty handy feature that provides a set of supervision tools to ensure your kids aren’t exploring anything inappropriate on the platform. You can view account insights, tweak what your kids can see and interact with, and set a screen time limit. But first, your child must allow supervision on their account, so follow the steps:

Step 1. Access the Profile section, followed by the three-line icon to access the Instagram settings.

Step 2. Head over to the Family Center feature and click Invite your Teen.

Step 3. Then, select your teen’s account to supervise and tap on Invite. An invitation will be sent to your teen’s account to allow you to supervise their account. Wait for them to accept or access their phone to take it on their behalf.

Now that your child’s Instagram is synced to yours, here’s what you do on their account:

Account Privacy: You can set your kids’ accounts as private, which means only their followers will be able to see their posts and story, and chat with them.

Interactions: It allows you to set who can interact with your kids, that is, send message requests and add them to group chats. Also, you can regulate who can tag or mention your child on posts and stories.

What They See: This setting regulates the type of content that appears on your child’s Instagram feed. For example, you can set the sensitive content to Less, and hide potentially offensive comments and message requests. This way, the chances of your child getting exposed to inappropriate messages are less.

Time Management: The Family Center on Instagram also lets you monitor and control the time spent on the app. You can set daily time limits, reminders, and notification settings. You can choose to block teens from Instagram if needed.

Monitor Chats: You can also monitor with whom your child interacts on Instagram. You can immediately block the person if you find anything offensive.

Part 4. Additional Tips for Parents to Protect Kids

Although parental controls help you monitor what your child sees on Instagram, they have limitations. For example, your kid can turn off the supervision at any time or might use an alternate account to browse explicit content. So, here are a few additional tips to keep your child away from pornography on Instagram:

Talk to Your Child Openly: Regardless of the Instagram settings you enable, your child can still find ways to view what they want. It’s therefore crucial to establish a relationship of trust. You must openly talk to your child about pornography and assure them that they can land safely with you when they see it.

Use Parental Control Software: There are many parental control software programs that promise comprehensive monitoring and protection, but only a few live up to the expectations. KidsGuard Pro, however, is the best out there. This app provides real-time monitoring and content filtering abilities so that you can block Instagram pornography with a few clicks. With this tool, you can effectively manage your kids’ online activities, including conversations on social media platforms, real-time phone recording, and tracking GPS location.

Try It Free Buy Now

Key Features

Conclusion

This guide details all the methods you can use to block all the adult content and pornography on Instagram. So, next time, if your child is scrolling through the reels, you can be sure that they aren’t exposed to any inappropriate content. Although Instagram’s parental control options help you somewhat restrict inappropriate content on your kids’ feed, there are a few limitations to them. If you would like to fully control your kids’ phones and keep them safe from online dangers, it’s recommended to use the best parental control app, KidsGuard Pro. Use it today and ensure a healthy digital life for your kids!

Try It Free Buy Now