Instagram Direct Gets 2 New Safety Features

Instagram introduced two new safety tools Wednesday covering Instagram Direct messages: a new filter that hides potentially offensive DM requests, and a way to pre-emptively block any new accounts created by a person who was already blocked by the user. The Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network said in a blog post Wednesday that DMs are private conversations, so its tools do not proactively seek out hate speech or bullying the way they do on other areas of the platform. When the new filter is turned on, DM requests containing potentially offensive emojis, phrases or words will be filtered out so users never have to see them, going instead into a separate hidden requests folder. If a user opens that folder, the message text will be covered so that they are not exposed to the emojis, phrases or words they do not wish to see, and those messages can then be accepted, deleted or reported. Instagram explained that the filter is for the DM requests folder, and not users’ regular DM inbox, where they receive messages from friends. The company wrote, “We’ve worked with leading anti-discrimination and anti-bullying organizations to develop a predefined list of offensive terms that will be filtered from DM requests when the feature is turned on. We know different words can be hurtful to different people, so you’ll also have the option to create your own custom list of words, phrases or emojis that you don’t want to see in your DM requests.” Instagram also explained the privacy aspects of the new feature, writing, “All message filtering will take place on your own device, which means this feature won’t send any message content back to our servers. Using this feature doesn't share the content of your DM requests with us, unless you report them.” The filter will be rolled out in several countries over the coming weeks, with more to be added over the next several months. It can be turned on and off in a new dedicated section under Privacy Settings called Hidden Words. When an Instagram user blocks someone, they will now have the option of pre-emptively blocking any news accounts that person creates, and this new feature will be available worldwide in the coming weeks. Instagram reiterated that its policies currently prohibit recidivism, meaning that if an account is disabled for breaking its rules, any new accounts created by that person will be removed when discovered. The platform also reminded people with public accounts that they have the option of allowing comments only from people they follow and/or people following them. And Instagram is starting the process of hiding common misspellings of offensive words from users’ manual comment filter lists, so that even if a word on those lists is accidentally or deliberately spelled wrong, the user will not see it in comments. The company wrote, “We know there’s still more we can do, and we’re committed to continuing our fight against bullying and online abuse. We’ll keep working in partnership with experts, industry organizations, teens, creators and public figures to understand their experience on Instagram and how we can evolve our policies and products to protect them from online abuse.”