Image Courtesy: The Verge
Instagram has announced a number of new features geared at protecting users from abuse on its site. During periods of high attention, the Facebook-owned social media platform will allow users to limit comments and direct messages (DM). When users try to submit foul language, it will provide harsher warnings. Hidden Words, a feature that prevents abusive DM requests, is also being rolled out on Instagram. All users should be able to see the new features soon.
A blog post on Instagram’s website revealed the additional functionality. Limits, a new feature from the image-sharing platform, will automatically conceal comments and DM requests from individuals who don’t follow the user or who have just begun following the user. “A lot of criticism against prominent personalities comes from those who don’t truly follow them, or who have only recently followed them, and who simply pile on in the moment,” according to Instagram research.
The Limits feature will be accessible worldwide beginning August 10th. From the Privacy options, you may turn it on or off. Instagram also says it’s working on identifying when a person is likely to have a surge like this, so it can prompt them to switch on Limits.
When someone tries to submit a potentially inappropriate or abusive remark on another user’s post, Instagram already displays a warning. Previously, a harsher message was displayed after the second or third abusive comment, but the social media platform has stated in a recent blog post that it will begin to display tougher messages straight away.
The platform recently announced the addition of a filter to assist combat online hate speech. Users may now automatically filter inappropriate words, phrases, and emoticons into a secret folder with the new Hidden Words function. DM requests that are likely to be “spammy or low-quality” are likewise filtered by this function. This functionality will be accessible internationally by the end of the month, according to Instagram. It has also added more inflammatory terms, phrases, and emojis to its list of objectionable words, phrases, and emojis to automatically filter out hate speech. Hide More Comments is a new opt-in feature that “may be potentially damaging, even if they don’t breach our rules.”
