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Instagram will filter out bullying comments
Starting today, it will hide anything intended to 'harass or upset' users.
At the F8 conference today, it was announced that Instagram will filter out bullying comments from posts, starting today. This includes anything "intended to harass or upset people in our community," the platform's CEO said in a post. Doing this will ensure Instagram remains "an inclusive, supportive place for all voices," he wrote.
A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) on May 1, 2018 at 10:31am PDT
This is a more forceful attempt to rid Instagram of negative interactions than their earlier efforts to clean up the platform. Back in September 2016, they enabled users to create filters for blocking content featuring certain words -- a potentially effective but laborious method that put the onus on the user. Last year, they introduced another to block offensive comments, but it was aimed to protect users from frequently-targeted groups.
The new bullying filter hides any comments on "a person's appearance or character, as well as threats to a person's well-being or health," according to Instagram. It's enabled by default to automatically comb content, but can be turned off in the Comment Controls. Either way, the filter will still detect and flag bullying content for official review.
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