Instagram Launches New Anti-Abuse Measures These include the ability for people to limit comment and DM requests during times of increased engagement and stronger warnings when people attempt to post potentially offensive comments.
By Entrepreneur Staff Edited by Emily Rella
Instagram on Tuesday rolled out new features to protect users from hate and abuse, including the ability for people to limit comment and DM requests during times of increased engagement, stronger warnings when people attempt to post potentially offensive comments, and the rollout of "Hidden Words," which allows users to filter DM requests.
"We have a responsibility to make sure everyone feels safe when they come to Instagram. We don't allow hate speech or bullying on Instagram, and we remove it whenever we find it.
We also want to protect people from having to experience this 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," wrote Instagram head Adam Mosseri when making the announcement Tuesday.
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The new "Limits" feature can be toggled on to automatically hide comments and DM requests from people who don't follow a user or only recently followed the user.
Mosseri pointed out that Instagram's research has found that much negativity toward public figures comes from people who don't follow them but "simply pile on in the moment."
He cited the recent Euro 2020 final, "which resulted in a significant -- and unacceptable -- spike in racist abuse towards players."
The messages intercepted by "Hidden Words" will be put in a hidden folder that a user can still open and review -- if they want to.
Related: TikTok is Testing an Instagram-Style 'Stories' Feature
