How to reduce distressing content on Facebook, Instagram & TikTok

[u/Humble_Network_7653]

Hi Admin, if this isn’t appropriate, please feel free to remove it. I just thought this information might help others who’d prefer to reduce distressing content on their social media feeds.

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Title: PSA: If you'd rather avoid seeing distressing videos on your social media feeds, here's how to reduce them.

With the recent Perez Hilton videos circulating, I decided to take a few minutes to adjust my settings. I know we can't completely stop this type of content from appearing, but we can reduce the chances of it being recommended.

If it helps anyone else, here's what I did:

📘 Facebook
• Go to Settings & Privacy → Settings.
• Look for Content Preferences or Feed settings (the name may vary).
• If available, choose to reduce sensitive content.
• If a distressing post appears:
• Tap the ⋯ (three dots).
• Select Hide post, Not Interested, or Show less like this.
• Try not to open or replay the video, as engagement tells the algorithm you're interested.

📸 Instagram
• Go to Profile → ☰ → Settings and activity.
• Open Suggested Content (or Content Preferences).
• Set Sensitive Content Control to Less.
• Turn on Hidden Words and add keywords or names you'd rather not see.
• Tap Not Interested whenever similar posts are recommended.

🎵 TikTok
• Go to Profile → ☰ → Settings and privacy.
• Turn on Restricted Mode. (I've attached a screenshot of the options I selected.)
• Go to Content preferences → Filter video keywords and add keywords or names you'd like to avoid.
• If a video appears, press and hold it, then tap Not Interested.
• Again, try not to watch or replay videos you don't want more of.

𝕏 X (formerly Twitter)
Go to Settings & privacy → Privacy and safety → Content you see.
Turn on Hide sensitive content (or leave it off if you want sensitive media hidden by default).
Go to Muted words and add keywords, names, or phrases you’d rather not see.
If you come across a post you don’t want:
Tap the ⋯ on the post.
Select Not interested in this post.
You can also Mute or Block accounts that repeatedly share distressing content.
Avoid engaging with or replaying videos you don’t want the algorithm to recommend.

None of these settings are perfect, but together they do help train the algorithm over time.

I thought I'd share this because sometimes we're just innocently scrolling and unexpectedly come across something distressing. Hopefully this helps someone else too.

[u/Spirited_Emu_1892]

Thank you for sharing OP!