Instagram introduces anti-bullying features

AFP via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

SEOUL — Global photo and video-sharing platform Instagram on Tuesday introduced various new safety features in its latest effort to fight against online bullying and other kinds of harassment.

The new features come as the social media platform has been criticized for becoming the center of various bullying acts, especially among young adults and teens, globally.

The Facebook Inc.-owned application said it is making it easier to block multiple people at once and offering tools to restrict who can tag users.

Among the new tools is allowing Instagram users to block comments on their posts from a certain user without the user knowing, according to Instagram.

Instagram said blocked users will still be able to see their comments on a post, but the comments will not be visible to anyone else.

The company also rolled out a new tool to control what comments can appear on users’ posts so that they can guard themselves against unwanted followers.

Instagram said it uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology, developed by its parent company Facebook, that helps control abusive content and spam.

The tool, also available in Korean, works by identifying words and phrases that have been reported offensive in the past, according to Instagram.

The AI tool then detects offensive language in comments and will send prompts to the writers, allowing the account users to rework their comments before posting them. Yonhap