How to stop seeing violent and graphic videos in your feed

To see fewer violent videos, turn on each app’s sensitive content setting and switch off autoplay, so nothing graphic starts playing before you’ve chosen to watch it. Here’s where those settings are on each platform, and what they still let through.

Updated November 2, 2026

X

  • Hide sensitive media: in Settings and privacy, open Privacy and safety, then Content you see, and turn off Display media that may contain sensitive content. Media marked as sensitive, including graphic violence, then sits behind a warning.
  • Stop autoplay: in Settings and privacy, open Accessibility, display, and languages, then Data usage, and turn autoplay off.

Instagram

  • Sensitive content: in Instagram’s settings, find Content preferences (called Suggested content in some versions), open Sensitive content, and choose Less. It covers Explore, Search, Reels, suggested accounts and recommendations in your feed, but not accounts you follow.
  • Autoplay: Instagram has no setting to turn it off.

Facebook

  • Sensitive content: in the Facebook app’s settings, look under Content preferences for sensitive content and set it to show less. Facebook describes this category as including graphic content.
  • Stop autoplay: in Settings & privacy, go to Preferences, then Media, and set videos to autoplay Never.

Reddit

  • Hide mature posts: in Settings, then Preferences, turn off Show mature content (I’m over 18), or keep it on and turn on Blur mature (18+) images and media. Graphic posts are meant to be marked NSFW. See how to turn off NSFW on Reddit for the app.
  • Stop autoplay: turn off Autoplay media in the same settings.

YouTube

  • Restricted Mode filters out videos YouTube considers potentially mature. On a computer, click your profile picture, then Restricted Mode, and turn it on. It works per browser, so turn it on everywhere you watch, and it hides comments too. Our guide to YouTube Restricted Mode has the details.
  • Stop autoplay: switch off Autoplay on the video player, so the next video doesn’t start by itself.

TikTok

  • Filter keywords: in Settings and privacy, open Content preferences, then Filter video keywords, and add words and hashtags you don’t want to see.
  • Not interested: press and hold a video you don’t want and tap Not interested.
  • Restricted Mode, under the same Content preferences, limits mature content, but some features, like your Following feed and going LIVE, aren’t available while it’s on.

TikTok may add a warning to distressing scenes, but there’s no way to stop videos playing as you scroll.

What still gets through

  • Labels come late. When something terrible happens, clips can spread long before anyone labels them.
  • Captions don’t warn you. A video of a crash or a fight can have an ordinary caption, and muted words can’t see what’s in a video.
  • Replies and reposts bring in accounts you never chose to follow.
  • Accounts you follow aren’t covered by some of these settings at all.

If something you saw keeps coming back to you, you’re not overreacting: graphic footage affects people, even through a screen. Step away for a while, and if it doesn’t fade, talk to someone you trust or a professional.

Catch the clips nobody labeled

Remedy is a Chrome extension that checks each post as it loads. With its Violent filter on, gore, graphic injuries and violent footage are blurred, then removed as you scroll, whether or not anyone marked them as sensitive. News that mentions violence without showing it stays.

On Plus, Remedy checks images and video frames too, so it can catch a clip even when the caption gives nothing away. Lite checks text only. It works on X, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and TikTok, on a computer, in Chrome.

Add Remedy to ChromeYour first day is free, no account needed. Plans from $4.92 a month. On a computer, in Chrome.

Questions

Why do I still see violent videos with sensitive content turned off?

These settings mostly rely on a post being labeled as sensitive, by the person who posted it or by the platform. A clip that spreads before anyone labels it shows as normal.

How do I stop videos from playing automatically?

X, Facebook and Reddit have a setting to turn autoplay off, and on YouTube you can switch off Autoplay for the next video. Instagram and TikTok have no full off switch.

Does YouTube Restricted Mode hide violent videos?

It filters out videos YouTube considers potentially mature, using signals like titles, descriptions and age restrictions. It catches a lot, but not everything, and it has to be turned on in each browser.