Home Ā» Cyberbullying, Instagram blocks offensive messages: harassers away even if they open other profiles

Cyberbullying, Instagram blocks offensive messages: harassers away even if they open other profiles

by admin

A new tool to defend against cyberbullies, harassers, stalkers. Instagram launched it, within the section for direct messages. In essence, it is an automated filter that will take all messages containing offensive words, phrases and emojis out of your main inbox. The application designed it in particular for those celebrities and influencers who are literally bombarded with this type of content (some cases, like that of Manchester United player Marcus Rushford, last January, had returned to raise the issue ) but in hindsight extremely useful for anyone.

Vertical scrolling Instagram stories like on TikTok: the social news that makes experts discuss

by Simone Cosimi


The update is obviously part of a much broader plan, which we have seen several times, with which the app driven today by Adam Mosseri aims to combat hate speech, that is, hate speech and attitudes, at every level. That of DMs, direct messages, is obviously less obvious to the general audience because it is private but can create big problems both for those who have followed immense ones and for those who are targeted by another person. Last February, the Facebook-controlled application explained that it would begin disabling the accounts of users who used to send multiple messages containing insults and harassment. But as early as three years ago, in 2018, the anti-harassment campaign was in full swing with a series of filters able to take advantage of artificial intelligence solutions to automatically block comments that targeted a user’s appearance. One wonders, with the explosion of social audio and the arrival of new features also on Facebook, how it will be possible to conduct minimally effective moderation in a myriad of live rooms in which tens or hundreds of people meet to discuss and confront each other.

See also  Anson Lo Concert 2023 Public Saleļ½œ6 Tips to Grab Ticketsļ½œHKTicketing Link

“We understand the impact that offensive content, whether it’s racist, sexist, homophobic or any other type of abuse, can have on people. Nobody should try it on Instagram – reads an official blog post – but fighting abuse is a complex challenge and there is not a single decisive step. For example, we know that many in our community, especially people with more followers, have been abused in the inbox of DM requests by people who do not follow “.

The new feature – like the one dedicated to comments on your posts that works according to the same logic – can be activated or deactivated in a new section of the application, “Hidden words”. In the first case, that is, when it is enabled, it will park the messages containing them in a separate folder, as already happens with the “Main” and “General” sections, where those of the contacts we are not connected with end up, spam and other. The interesting thing is that in this folder the messages are in fact hidden, so there is no need to read the contents: you can open, delete or report them with a single touch. A solution that, explains the group, was developed in collaboration with “leading organizations in the fight against bullying and discrimination”: these acronyms also helped to establish a first list of offensive phrases and words. But users can customize the “black list” based on what strikes them the most and what they don’t want to read about.

Instagram and Messenger, integration part You will be able to chat by jumping from one app to another

Simone Cosimi



“Since direct messages are private conversations, we do not proactively search for hateful or bullying content in the same way as we do elsewhere on Instagram – continues the note – that’s why we introduced this tool, which focuses on requests for messages. direct that constitute the main channel through which people receive messages of this type “.

Not only. Instagram also explained that there is another tool being rolled out in the coming weeks in several countries – as of this writing, neither is active in Italy. This is the ability to block a user once and for all. In practice, when someone is blocked, all the accounts that this person should open in the future, perhaps to return to harass or disturb us, will be automatically blocked. Although it is not entirely clear how the system really manages to track the opening of other profiles with certainty, a point on which Instagram has not provided details. It is to be believed that it will be enough to change e-mails and details to open them out of all proportion. But it is nonetheless a sign that the battle against hatred continues.

“We know we can do even more and we are committed to continuing our fight against online bullying and abuse – concludes the release – we will continue to work in collaboration with experts, industry organizations, teenagers, creators and public figures to understand their experience on Instagram and understand how we can adjust our policies and products to protect them from online abuse. “

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy