Instagram is rolling out another set of anti-bullying features, including the ability to limit comments and filter abusive DM requests.
“We have a responsibility to make sure everyone feels safe when they come to Instagram,” company head Adam Mosseri wrote in a blog announcement. “We also want to protect people from having to experience […] abuse in the first place, which is why we’re constantly listening to feedback from experts and our community, and developing new features to give people more control over their experience on Instagram, and help protect them from abuse.”
Limits
To help protect users when they experience, or even anticipate, a rush of digital abuse, Instagram is introducing Limits, which automatically hides comments and direct message (DM) requests from people who don’t follow you, or only recently started to.
Creators and public figures may experience sudden spikes of interest, according to Mosseri, who noted that “in many cases this is an outpouring of support—like if they go viral after winning an Olympic medal.” But sometimes it’s a wave of unwelcome messages. Limits is accessible via Instagram’s privacy settings and the company is also exploring ways to prompt users to turn on Limits ahead of expected spikes in comments and DMs.
Stronger Warnings
Instagram already cracks down on folks who repeatedly attempt to post potentially offensive comments, showing increasingly stronger warnings with each attempt that content may be hidden or removed. Now, instead of waiting for the second or third offensive comment, the social network will show the “stronger message” the first time.
In the last week alone, Mosseri counted an average one million flagged remarks per day, revealing that about half of the time comments were “edited or deleted by the user based on these warnings.”
Hidden Words
Following a successful trial run in a handful of countries earlier this year, the social network is making Hidden Words available globally. The feature allows accounts to automatically filter offensive words, phrases, and emojis into a hidden folder. It also filters DM requests deemed “low quality” or spam.
The ever-expanding list of content will be updated “frequently,” according to Mosseri, who tipped the recently added opt-in option to “Hide More Comments” that may be harmful, even if they don’t break platform rules.
