Advertisement

Instagram users who caption photos with abusive messages will receive prompt to re-think message, in anti-bullying initiative

instagram - REUTERS
instagram - REUTERS

Instagram users who caption photos with abusive messages will receive prompts to re-think their messages to combat bullying.

The social media giant is rolling out a Caption Warning feature in a bid to clamp down on abuse and harassment messages on the site.

Instagram has already brought out a similar feature for bullying comments. The rethink feature uses computer programmes to recognise bullying remarks such as ‘you’re stupid’.

People who type this into a caption when posting a photo, will receive a notification saying ‘this caption looks similar to others that have been reported’. They will then be given options to edit the post or share it anyway.

The move has been welcomed by anti-bullying campaigners. Dan Raisbeck, the co-founder of the UK charity Cybersmile, said: “We should all consider the impact of our words, especially online where comments can be easily misinterpreted.

“Tools like Instagram’s Comment and Caption Warning are a useful way to encourage that behaviour before something is posted, rather than relying on reactive action to remove a hurtful comment after it’s been seen by others.”

Instagam has come under pressure to clamp down on cyberbullying after a number of high-profile cases. In May, a 16-year-old girl in Malaysia reportedly took her life after asking if she should commit suicide in a poll on the social network, with nearly 70 percent of respondents saying she should.

In recent months, Instagram has rolled out a number of features to improve the atmosphere on the social network, including allowing users to hide abusive comments from everyone except the bully, so they don’t know their remarks are being restricted.

The company has also started hiding the number ‘likes’ pictures get to reduce social pressure on users.

Earlier this year a survey by the Royal Society for Public Health found UK users considered ‘like’ button the most ‘toxic’ feature on social media.

The scheme is only running on in a few countries worldwide, such as Australia and Italy. However, yesterday, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said in a Q&A on his Instagram feed that the company was hoping to roll out the hidden likes feature worldwide “early next year”.