Instagram is rolling out an anti-bullying tool that detects offensive captions
- Instagram is rolling out a tool designed to prevent bullying, which it eventually wants to roll out worldwide.
- The tool, which launched Monday in select countries, detects photo or video captions with bullying language and prompts the user who penned the captions to reconsider their words.
- The social media site launched a similar feature in July, which notifies users that their comment may be considered offensive before they post it.
- Instagram head Adam Mosseri has previously claimed that Instagram was "committed to leading the industry in the fight against online bullying."
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Instagram is rolling out another tool designed to prevent bullying on its platform.
The tool uses AI to detect photo or video captions that contain language typically reported as bullying. It then asks the user who writes a particular caption if they'd like to edit their words before posting it.
In a blog post published Monday, Instagram said that the tool is first being rolled out in "select countries", though it didn't say exactly where, and said the tool would be available globally within a few months.
It also spelled out the rationale behind the tool.
"As part of our long-term commitment to lead the fight against online bullying, we've developed and tested AI that can recognize different forms of bullying on Instagram," the post read.
"In addition to limiting the reach of bullying, this warning helps educate people on what we don't allow on Instagram, and when an account may be at risk of breaking our rules."
The Facebook-owned social media site launched a similar feature in July, which performed the same detection and notification functions, but for comments instead of captions. This was launched in tandem with another anti-bullying feature that lets users "restrict" other users' comments by effectively muting them.
In Monday's blog post, Instagram was positive about the impact of the anti-bullying tools it launched in July. "Results have been promising, and we've found that these types of nudges can encourage people to reconsider their words when given a chance," it said.
Since Instagram head Adam Mosseri was appointed to the role last year, he seems to have made stopping bullying on the platform one of his main priorities.
When July's anti-bullying tools were rolled out, Mosseri released a statement in which he claimed Instagram was "committed to leading the industry in the fight against online bullying," adding his team was "rethinking the whole experience of Instagram to meet that commitment."
