October 21, 2022
Instagram has unveiled a new set of safety features designed to protect users from abusive internet trolls and help users block the accounts of abusers and trolls.
Users can now block all existing accounts of a person, extending a feature introduced last year that only allowed new accounts to be blocked.
For example, if a user block someone on Instagram, they now have the option to block other accounts that that person already has, as well as those that they may create in the future, making it harder for them to interact with you. According to preliminary test results, Instagram estimates that the change will result in four million more accounts being automatically blocked every week.
“Based on initial test results from this new change, we expect our community will need to block 4 million fewer accounts every week since these accounts will now be blocked automatically,” Instagram said in a blog post.
Instagram says improvements to the platform’s blocking system, updates to hidden words, kindness reminders, and comment reply nudges will work to prevent abuse from both general users and public figures.
Instagram has also improved a feature that prevents users from viewing potentially abusive messages by filtering offensive words from story responses. The company announced Thursday that it is expanding “nudges” designed to protect creators from harassment.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
