Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri signalled a change in social media use when he pledged his commitment to lead the fight against online bullying. In 2019, the app, which for years had used artificial intelligence to detect bullying and other types of harmful content, rolled out a new feature to make people literally stop and think twice.
The feature, also powered by AI, notifies people when their comment may be considered offensive before it's posted. This intervention gives people a chance to reflect and undo their comment and prevents the recipient from receiving the harmful comment notification.
"It's our responsibility to create a safe environment on Instagram" - Adam Mosseri
Instagram also allows its users to restrict other accounts, whether that's restricting them from seeing when you're active online, to making their comments on your post only visible to them and not your other followers.
At the time, Adam said: "It's our responsibility to create a safe environment on Instagram. This has been an important priority for us for some time, and we are continuing to invest in better understanding and tackling this problem."
Earlier this year, equally popular platform TikTok went one step further by actively cultivating a culture of kindness on the app.
Its #CreateKindness campaign is aimed at raising awareness around online bullying and how we can all choose kindness. It goes without saying, bullying is not tolerated on TikTok and the platform will remove content and accounts associated with harassment and bullying.
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