Instagram has announced a new “limits” feature to hide abusive messages.
The photo-sharing app has revealed it has developed a new feature that will automatically hide comments and messages from people who do not follow, or just started following, users who have it enabled.
According to Instagram, the feature was designed to stop messages and comments from large numbers of people during “sudden spikes” of abuse.
The company specifically referenced the racist abuse following the men's Euro 2020 football final as one example, after black players on the England team found themselves subjected to a torrent of racist abuse, including on social-media platforms.
The level of abuse prompted calls from the prime minister and others for social networks to do more to prevent it - as well as several subsequent arrests.
Last month, Instagram – which is owned by Facebook – admitted it had made “mistakes” in moderating the abuse, and has now said its new system was designed to protect people from "a sudden rush" of negative attention.
They explained in an announcement: "Creators and public figures sometimes experience sudden spikes of comments and DM [direct-message] requests from people they don't know.
"In many cases, this is an outpouring of support - like if they go viral after winning an Olympic medal.
"But sometimes, it can also mean an influx of unwanted comments or messages."
Instead of requiring users to completely disable all comments and messages, the new tool will let anyone mute those who have not been "long-standing followers".
The feature can also be switched on or off at any time.
Instagram also said it has "expanded" the blocklist of words, hashtags and emojis the system automatically blocked to filter out abusive messages, which individual users can also customise based on personal experience.
