Moderate comments on Facebook and Instagram ads (including dark posts)
How your Meta ad accounts come in, what dark posts are, and how CommentGate tells ad comments apart from post comments.
Updated
Most brands get the bulk of their comments on ads, not on their Page. Many of those ads are dark posts: ads that never appear on your Page's timeline, so you would never see their comments unless you went looking in Ads Manager. CommentGate watches them for you.
How ad accounts come in
Ad accounts arrive with your Facebook and Instagram connection. When Facebook asks which assets CommentGate may use, tick your ad accounts as well as your Pages. Each one shows on Accounts as a Meta ad account row.
If you already connected without them, click Connect, then Facebook and Instagram, and tick them this time. See Connect Facebook Pages and Instagram.
What the ad account does
An ad's comments belong to the Page or Instagram account the ad runs from, so they arrive through that Page or Instagram account. The ad account tells CommentGate which of those comments sit on ads. That is what lets you:
- see the ad's name next to each comment in Activity;
- run rules only on ads, or only on regular posts;
- read reports per ad.
So keep both switched on: the Page or Instagram account (for the comments) and the ad account (to know which are on ads).
Ads only, or posts only
To moderate only one of the two on a Page or Instagram account, click Customize for one account (the sliders icon) on its row and choose under Moderate comments on: Posts and ads, Posts only or Ads only. See Choose what each account watches.
Threads ads
If you run ads on Threads from this ad account, a Threads ads row appears under the same connection, with its own switch. Replies to those ads are checked every hour while an ad runs. Only replies made directly to an ad can be read. Catalog ads, boosted posts and ads run from a Threads profile made for an Instagram account or Page cannot be moderated.
Limits worth knowing
- Comments on Instagram catalog ads (Advantage+ catalog) may not all reach your inbox. Instagram does not let anyone list them.
- Comments on Instagram live videos cannot be hidden.
- Facebook and Instagram let you hide, delete, reply, reply privately and like. See What each platform allows.
Related
- Connect Facebook Pages and Instagram Sign in with Facebook once to bring in your Pages, their Instagram accounts and your ad accounts.
- Choose what each account watches Turn an account on or off, watch only its posts or only its ads, and pick which rules apply to it.
- What each platform allows: hide, delete, reply and like Each platform decides what outside apps may do with comments. Here is what CommentGate can do on each one, and why.
- Comments aren't arriving How quickly comments should show up on each platform, and what to check when a post or ad has comments that are missing from Activity.
Still stuck?
Tell us what you were trying to do and what happened. A person replies, usually within one business day.