Following an assault of hostile remarks thrown towards UK footballers during the Euro 2020 final, Instagram unveiled new restrictions on Wednesday to combat abusive and racist behavior on the social network.
When people post harmful comments, the social media platform will start employing “stronger warnings,” as well as a new “hidden words” tool that allows users to filter abusive comments or messages.
At the “spikes of increased attention,” Instagram will also allow users to control comments and message requests.
Following a painful loss in the Euro 2020 final, that was completed last month as a result of the delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, social media sites hurried to remove racially offensive remarks made against the members of the England football squad.
The racist and vile content, which drew criticism from British politicians and the general public, put pressure on major US social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
The new controls, according to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, are intended to reduce the propagation of racist, sexist, and homophobic behavior.
The platform CEO said, “Our research shows that a lot of negativity towards public figures comes from people who don’t actually follow them, or who have only recently followed them, and who simply pile on at the moment.
“We saw this after the recent Euro 2020 final, which resulted in a significant and unacceptable spike in racist abuse towards players.”
He added that “users tell us they don’t want to switch off comments and messages completely; they still want to hear from their community and build those relationships,” and that the new policy “allows you to hear from your long-standing followers while limiting contact from people who might only be coming to your account to target you.”
According to Mosseri, the existing warnings cut abusive remarks by up to 50%.
“We already show a warning when someone tries to post a potentially offensive comment,” he said.
“And if they try to post potentially offensive comments multiple times, we show an even stronger warning. Now, rather than waiting for the second or third comment, we’ll show this stronger message the first time.”
Following an assault of hostile remarks thrown towards UK footballers during the Euro 2020 final, Instagram unveiled new restrictions on Wednesday to combat abusive and racist behavior on the social network.
When people post harmful comments, the social media platform will start employing “stronger warnings,” as well as a new “hidden words” tool that allows users to filter abusive comments or messages.
At the “spikes of increased attention,” Instagram will also allow users to control comments and message requests.
Following a painful loss in the Euro 2020 final, that was completed last month as a result of the delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, social media sites hurried to remove racially offensive remarks made against the members of the England football squad.
The racist and vile content, which drew criticism from British politicians and the general public, put pressure on major US social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
The new controls, according to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, are intended to reduce the propagation of racist, sexist, and homophobic behavior.
The platform CEO said, “Our research shows that a lot of negativity towards public figures comes from people who don’t actually follow them, or who have only recently followed them, and who simply pile on at the moment.
“We saw this after the recent Euro 2020 final, which resulted in a significant and unacceptable spike in racist abuse towards players.”
He added that “users tell us they don’t want to switch off comments and messages completely; they still want to hear from their community and build those relationships,” and that the new policy “allows you to hear from your long-standing followers while limiting contact from people who might only be coming to your account to target you.”
According to Mosseri, the existing warnings cut abusive remarks by up to 50%.
“We already show a warning when someone tries to post a potentially offensive comment,” he said.
“And if they try to post potentially offensive comments multiple times, we show an even stronger warning. Now, rather than waiting for the second or third comment, we’ll show this stronger message the first time.”
