Instagram – uneven, unrepentant, toxic shitshow that it is – is still regarded as a necessary (and even fruitful) business tool by many individuals and entities in the adult industry community. As such, the platform has two new, recently announced features that are certainly worth knowing about. Funnily, without even a trace of irony or shame, the features are said to be designed to combat online bullying.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri wrote about the new features in a blog post.
The first feature will allegedly use artificial intelligence to flag comments that may be considered offensive. In those cases, users are asked, “Are you sure you want to post this?” and then given the option button to “undo” their comment before it posts.
Kind of like telling a meany to count to ten before they act, Mosseri wrote, “This intervention gives people a chance to reflect and undo their comment and prevents the recipient from receiving the harmful comment notification.”
The second feature, which Mosseri said the service will start testing soon, is the ability to “restrict” users looking at individual accounts.
He wrote: “We’ve heard from young people in our community that they’re reluctant to block, unfollow, or report their bully because it could escalate the situation, especially if they interact with their bully in real life. Some of these actions also make it difficult for a target to keep track of their bully’s behavior.”
The soon-to-be-tested feature – cleverly called “Restrict” — will apparently allow users to control their Instagram experience, without notifying someone who may be targeting them.
Once a user restricts someone, comments on posts from the restricted person will only be visible to that same person. If they choose, users can make a restricted person’s comments visible to others by approving their comments. Restricted people won’t be able to see when a user is active on Instagram or when their target has read their direct messages. (This feature seems kinda parallel to Twitter’s “Mute” feature.)
Here’s the thing…
Certainly members of the adult industry community could benefit from these two new features, especially Restrict. Who wouldn’t want to restrict their harassers, as well as limit their harassers from finding strength in numbers when they are unable to read asshole comments made by other assholes? Not allowing them to see they have been restricted is also clever, though a true troll would be able to put the pieces together really quickly when they noticed they seemed to be the only person commenting on posts, etc. It’s a good effort though, regardless.
Both Restrict and the comment intervention/warning are interesting efforts in trying to limit bullying behavior without outright blocking posts or banning users. As we know, sometimes it inflames bullies further to know they are blocked. Actions like this can be a badge of honor or fuel for additional rage, and neither is really good.
The best/”best” part of all of this though is the spirit in which these new tools are intended. Mosseri opened the announcement with: “Our mission is to connect you with the people and things you love, which only works if people feel comfortable expressing themselves on Instagram.”
Except, of course, if you’re a sex worker.
Images via Instagram’s blog post.
