Instagram Has Announced Two New Anti-Bullying Strategies Including ‘Comment Warning’

Growing up in the digital age ain’t easy and there’s truly some merit in the quote “don’t read the comments”.

Online bullying is a regular occurrence on social media, and Instagram has recently announced two new products they’re introducing in order to fight bullying and prevent it across the platform.

“We can do more to prevent bullying from happening on Instagram, and we can do more to empower the targets of bullying to stand up for themselves,” Instagram said in an online statement.

“Today we’re announcing one new feature in both areas. These tools are grounded in a deep understanding of how people bully each other and how they respond to bullying on Instagram, but they’re only two steps on a longer path.”

Here’s the info on the two new features Instagram is implementing:

Comment warning.

The comment warning is a feature that encourages people to pause and reflect before posting a potentially harmful comment. The new feature notifies people when their comment may be considered offensive before it’s actually posted and gives them the chance to undo their comment before the recipient receives it.

Restrict.

The restrict feature is designed to prevent bullying across Instagram, including in the comments and DMs. It comes after Instagram heard from younger people that they’re reluctant to block, unfollow or report their bullies, especially when it’s someone they may know IRL.

The restrict feature is going to be tested soon as a way to protect accounts from unwanted interactions — once you restrict someone, comments on your posts from that person will only be visible to that individual and you can choose to make the restricted person’s comments visible by approving them if need be.

Comments or DM from a restricted person will also appear behind a sensitivity screen, which means you don’t have to actually read it before approving or straight-up deleting it.

Find out more here.