According to an article by Mumbrella, Instagram has launched new tools as part of its ongoing mission to support public figures in combating racism and hate speech across the Instagram community.
A new function called ‘Limits’ has been introduced, which allows users to limit comments and DM requests during spikes of attention, as well as the ‘Hidden Words’ feature, which enables people to filter out abusive DMs. To top it off, there’s also stronger warnings for users when they try to post potentially offensive comments on other people’s posts.
Instagram has said it does not allow hate speech or bullying, and that it tries to remove abuse once it occurs. The platform also revealed it wants to protect users from experiencing abuse in the first place, which is why it listens to feedback from experts, as well as the community, to develop features that provide its users with more control.
According to research by Instagram, the majority of negativity towards public figures comes from accounts that don’t actually follow the public figures, or who have only recently followed them. This is where the 'Limits' function comes into play – working to automatically hide DM requests and comments from these unknown accounts.
This feature was developed after Instagram discovered that creators and public figures often experience an influx of sudden comments and DM requests from strangers during and after a significant event. In many cases, this is positive support, but it can also mean a lot of unwanted discourse.
The platform already shows warnings when someone attempts to post a potentially offensive comment, with even stronger warnings appearing when they try to post abusive comments multiple times. However, with the new changes, Instagram is now showing a stronger message the very first time.
Meanwhile, ‘Hidden Words’ allows users to automatically filter offensive words, emojis and phrases into a hidden folder, that they never have to open if they don’t want to. The feature also filters DM requests that are suspected to be ‘spammy’ or low-quality.
Additionally, the platform has grown its list of potentially offensive words, emojis and hashtags that are automatically filtered out of comments, and will be updating this frequently. The new opt-in option to ‘Hide More Comments’ that could be harmful has also been recently added.
While Instagram has said there’s definitely “more to do,” including improving the methods of finding and removing abusive content more quickly (and holding those who post it accountable), the company will continue to invest in organisations focused on racial justice and equity.
“Whether you’re an athlete, a creator, or a high school student – we have a responsibility to make sure everyone feels safe when they come to Instagram,” Facebook Australia head of policy, Mia Garlick, said. “The new features Instagram is launching today are the next step in our ongoing work to combat racism and hate speech across our platform.
We’re committed to continuing this work with experts, sports leagues, governments and safety partners to root out hate both online and offline, but we hope these new features will better protect everyone in our community from seeing abusive content in the first place.”
