Instagram Will Warn Users When They Are About To Post Something That May Insult Others

Instagram, starting yesterday, will warn users when they are about to post something that has to potential to offend someone else on the platform. This applies to captions for photos and videos people see on their news feed.

The tool Instagram uses to spot violations is powered by AI and when it identifies a potential offense, the one who wrote it will receive a notification saying that what they wanted to post looked similar to others that have been reported. After that, users will get the suggestion that they change what they have just written or post it as it is.

This new function shares some similarities to what the photo-sharing platform built for the comments earlier this year. According to the company, its effort to urge people to reconsider before posting something offensive has brought some positive results for its effort to combat online bullying.

This measure is part of a grander scheme the site is executing to lessen the effect of rampant bullying and abuse. Recently, it released the Restrict feature that allows users to shadow banning the bullies.

In 2019, Instagram rolled out its AI specially designed to identify bullying in captions, photos, as well as hurtful comments.

This tool is a little different from other moderation measures the site have applied. It relies on the users themselves to determine if a comment is insulting. While the tool is of no help against determined bullies, it may make some users reconsider what they have written before it hurts someone’s feelings.

For now, the feature has only been available to some countries, but Instagram said that a global rollout had been scheduled in the next few months.