Moderation tools give you several ways to deal with a comment, and they are not interchangeable. Choosing the wrong one can either escalate a situation or destroy a record you needed.
Hide
Hiding a comment changes its visibility on Meta. On Facebook the comment stays visible to its author and their friends but disappears for the wider audience, which avoids tipping off the commenter. Hiding is reversible; you can unhide at any time.
Delete
Deleting removes the comment through Meta permanently. There is no undo. Reserve deletion for clear violations like illegal content, doxxing, or unambiguous spam where you never want the comment back.
Archive
Archiving is an inbox action, not a Meta action. It clears the comment from your CommentProtect queue without changing anything on Facebook or Instagram. Use it to mark a comment as handled while leaving it publicly visible.
A simple rule of thumb
- Public but unwanted: hide.
- Clear violation you never want back: delete.
- Handled and fine to leave up: archive.