Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms worldwide, and as beneficial as it can be, it has its drawbacks. Online bullying is one of the most widely experienced toxic behaviors on social media. Accordingly, Instagram has announced that it is working to combat online bullying on its platform, and will implement 2 approaches to achieve this.

“Our mission is to connect you with the people and things you love. Which only works if people feel comfortable expressing themselves on Instagram. We know bullying is a challenge many face, particularly young people. And we commit to leading the industry in the fight against online bullying. And we are rethinking the whole experience of Instagram to meet that commitment.” As Instagram explains.

“We can do more to prevent bullying from happening on Instagram. And we can do more to empower the targets of bullying to stand up for themselves. Today we’re announcing one new feature in both areas. These tools are grounded in a deep understanding of how people bully each other. And how they respond to bullying on Instagram. But they’re only two steps on a longer path.“

One approach is an AI feature that alerts users when they make what could be an offensive comment. 

“In the last few days, we started rolling out a new feature powered by AI that notifies people when their comment may be considered offensive. This intervention gives people a chance to reflect and undo their comment and prevents the recipient from receiving the harmful comment notification. From early tests of this feature, we have found that it encourages some people to undo their comment and share something less hurtful once they have had a chance to reflect.”

The second approach is that the company is also going to start testing a new feature called “restrict”. “Restrict” is a new way for users to put restrictions on who can comment on their posts.

“Soon, we will begin testing a new way to protect your account from unwanted interactions called Restrict. Once you Restrict someone, comments on your posts from that person will only be visible to that person. You can choose to make a restricted person’s comments visible to others by approving their comments. Restricted people won’t be able to see when you’re active on Instagram or when you’ve read their direct messages.”