>
Instagram has unveiled a range of new security features on iOS and Android to better protect users from abusive internet trolls.
Improvements to the platform’s blocking system, hidden word updates, friendliness reminders and comment nudges — more on all four upgrades below — will prevent abuse from general users and public figures alike, Instagram says.
For example, if you now block someone on Instagram, you also have the option to block other accounts that person may already have in addition to the ones they may create in the future, making it harder for them to interact with you. Based on the initial test results, Instagram believes the change will result in four million additional accounts being automatically blocked each week.
Instagram’s hidden word system — which filters DM requests and comments containing offensive words, phrases, and emojis — has also been updated. The social media service has improved the filtering to catch intentional misspellings of offensive terms, and the feature has been expanded to cover unwanted Story replies from random users. Enable it in the app’s privacy settings, if you haven’t already.
Going forward, Instagram says it will also apply this hidden word system to DM requests that contain spam and scams — which (hopefully) means you’ll no longer have to manually delete those too-good-to-be-true pyramid-pitch pitches.
Kind reminders are all new, although for now they only apply to creators and public figures. Now when you try to send a DM request to a creator, Instagram will show you a message at the bottom of the chat reminding you to be kind and keep Instagram a supportive place (see above).
Comment nudges are based on the same principle and are applied more broadly to Instagram as a whole. Building on existing comment alerts, new notifications will encourage people to pause and think about how they want to respond before responding to a comment flagged as potentially offensive by Instagram’s systems.
Instagram says these nudges are now live for people whose Instagram apps are set to English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese, or Arabic. Presumably, more regions will follow in the future.
For more Instagram-related content, check out our guides on how to change (or reset) your Instagram password, enable dark mode, and disable “precise location” tracking (spoiler: it’s easy).