Aiming to curb online bullying, photo sharing Instagram will now issue prompts to users who write abusive messages in photo captions. The company is rolling out a ‘Caption Warning’ feature to keep a check on abuse and harassment messages on the site.
In October, Instagram rolled out a new ‘Restrict’ feature for bullying comments and to protect your account from unwanted interactions. Direct messages received from a restricted account will automatically be moved to Message Request, and you will not receive notifications.
The Caption Warning feature utilises computer programmes to recognise bullying remarks such as ‘you’re stupid’. Now, if you type this into a caption while posting a photo or video, you will be prompted with a notification saying ‘this caption looks similar to others that have been reported’. Instagram will then give you an option to either post it anyway or to rethink or edit the post before posting.
The move has been appreciated by the anti-bullying campaigners. For instance, Britain-based UK Charity Cybersmile Co-Founder Dan Raisbeck said ‘we should all consider the impact of our words, especially online where comments can be easily misinterpreted. Tools like Instagram’s Comment and Caption Warning are a useful way to encourage that behaviour before something is posted, rather than relying on reactive action to remove a hurtful comment after it’s been seen by others.’
In the recent months, Instagram has announced a number of features to improve the atmosphere on the social network, including the restrict feature, hiding like counts and keeping data privacy of the users at the core, there are new in-app features to help you better control the data you share with third-parties through Instagram.
Earlier this month, Instagram announced that it will now ask the date of birth from those who are creating an account on the platform. The feature is designed to protect youngsters on its platform and provide age-appropriate and safer experiences.
