Instagram is trying to make its app more beautiful
The company is adding a new feature that lets you control who can comment on your posts. It's also adding new resources about mental health, friendlier comment filtering, and new "politeness" stickers.
All of the changes are aimed at "keeping Instagram a safe and positive place for individual expression," the company said in a blog post.
However, the best feature is comment moderation. Now, users with public accounts will have much more control over who can and cannot comment on their posts.
Previously, Instagram's options were all or nothing: you had to either allow comments from everyone or turn off comments altogether. Now, post-related options includefeatures like limiting comments to accounts you follow, your followers, or a combination of both.
You can also block comments from specific accounts only, which will help prevent any harassment on the service.
Additionally, Instagram is rolling out its filtering system, which automatically blocks abusive comments and spam, to more languages. The feature is now available to users of the app in Arabic, French, German, and Portuguese.
The company is also updating mental health resources with a new anonymous reporting feature for live videos. The new feature allows users to report when a user looks like they might need outside support. They will then see a message with links to various resources, including a helpline.
Finally, Instagram will introduce, in the coming months, a set of “politeness” stickers aimed at encouraging users to post positive comments.
Instagram has recently been criticized for not taking action to curb harassment and abuse on its platform, so it began automating much of its filtering earlier this year.
