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Instagram Announce New Filter To Address Cyberbullying And Abuse Problem

Instagram have announced a new filter to address the problem of cyberbullying and abuse on their platform. If you are affected by any kind of bullying or harassment online, follow the links throughout this article to our various support services.

Social media and photo sharing platform Instagram have announced new, stricter policies to address the problem of cyberbullying and abuse on the platform – along with the launch of a new ‘anti-bullying’ filter.

Instagram has grown in popularity in recent years and is mainly used to share photos, similar to a digital scrapbook. Originally, the platform was used mainly by aspiring photographers to build a portfolio, sharing and exchanging comments with other photographers, but with a user base of over 800 million active monthly users it is a now a diverse community of personal and professional bloggers and influencers.

Although the platform has always promoted community guidelines that discourage bullying and try to encourage kindness when using the platform, they haven’t always been effective.

“Protecting our youngest community members is crucial to helping them feel comfortable to express who they are and what they care about.”

Kevin Systrom, CEO, Instagram

The changes will affect accounts that post abusive comments or make threats to people’s personal safety. The platform has launched a filtering system which will ‘filter out’ abusive comments or posts containing offensive content without needing to be flagged by a user. If a user continuously breaches the new Instagram guidelines, their account will be reviewed and possibly banned from the platform altogether.

“To be clear, we don’t tolerate bullying on Instagram. Our Community Guidelines have always prohibited bullying on our platform, and I’m proud to announce this next step in our ongoing commitment to keeping Instagram an inclusive, supportive place for all voices.”

Kevin Systrom, CEO, Instagram

The new feature was introduced to the platform on May 1st and is optional, making it possible for individual users to disable the filter in their app settings.

If you are affected by any kind of negativity online, we can help you. Visit our Cyberbullying and Online Abuse Help Center for lots of practical tips and advice on how to deal with cyberbullying and harassment online. You can also access our trained support services by visiting our Total Access Support section and learning more about the various ways that we can help you with your particular problem. To learn more about Cybersmile and the work we do, please explore the suggestions below.

What are your thoughts about the changes Instagram have made? Share your thoughts by contacting us or tweet us @CybersmileHQ.