Instagram set to build anti-harassment tools

The social media platform will soon allow users to filter out comment streams and completely turn off comments on their own posts if they choose.

The fastest way to get feedback on such features is to make them live on high-profile accounts of Instagram. The Post does report all users will see changes in their comments over the next few months, though it’s not clear if Instagram ever intends to roll out the feature to its entire community.

Social media harassment is nothing new and neither is the problem with addressing it. Instagram is also a platform that has received lesser backfiring in terms of online abuse compared to those experienced by Twitter and Microsoft.

The feature is being rolled out slowly, first to some “high volume comment” users (so, probably celebrities), and then, eventually, to the rest of us.

Instagram (and Twitter this past week) are starting to take steps to address harassment, even if it means less freedom of expression. After all, what’s offensive to people is uniquely personal.

This might be the Instagram feature that was rumored to be used by Taylor Swift during her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West last week. That’s not to say Instagram is abandoning its policies on what users are and are not allowed to post. Online bullying gets to critical levels when networks get accused of compliance in harassment when they do not act towards the felony. This is why users are going to be given the charge of their accounts and they can filter such comments.

If the test goes well, the anti-harassment feature could begin to spread across Instagram in coming weeks. Instagram would not confirm to the Post that the vanishing snakes and the new mod tools wererelated. Users may also have the ability to turn comments off on a photo-by-photo basis, so there will be an opportunity to disable the comments entirely.