If your Instagram profile is public, anyone can message you. Instagram keeps messages from users you don’t follow or that don’t follow you back in a separate folder called “Message Requests.” Until you accept the message, they won’t know if you’ve read it.
You can control who gets to see your messages in the Settings menu by tapping Privacy and then Message Requests. This will let you select who can see a list of people who have sent you a message (including those you don’t follow or who don’t follow you back). You can also mute a conversation, which stops the other user from being able to send you any more messages. If you mute a message, the other person won’t be notified and you can still see who read your messages.
You can also block accounts from your Message Requests tab. If you receive messages that are threatening or hurtful, you can report them to Instagram for review. Instagram will notify you if your account is being reviewed. You can also use the filter option to automatically mute conversations from certain accounts or to categorize messages as private, which means the other user won’t be able to see that you’ve read their message. You can also restrict accounts by opening a conversation and tapping on the person’s name followed by Restrict account. Using this feature is more effective than just blocking accounts, but it’s less convenient since you won’t be notified when they message you.
