Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET
It’s no secret that social media is a breeding ground for bullying and abusive behavior. But Instagram, which has its fair share of that kind of content, is adding new features to try and address the problem.
The social media giant on Thursday said it’s launching two new features to limit a person’s ability to harass someone on the service.
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It’s expanding its Limits tool to allow users to force Instagram to show post interactions from “close friends”. When this feature is turned on, users will only see when a close friend adds comments to their posts, sends them a DM, replies to a story, and other interactions. While people not on the Close Friends list will still see their posts, any replies, DMs, or comments will be hidden from everyone else.
To use the Close Friends feature, users must create a Close Friends list. From there, only people who interact with the user will get their content through. However, Instagram will only let users ban non-close friends for four weeks. After that, they must extend the ban or allow others to see their content. There’s no limit on how many times users can extend the ban.
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The move comes at a time of serious concern for young people who use Instagram and other social media platforms. Both the federal and several state governments have taken social media platforms to task in recent months, arguing they are dangerous for children. They point to a rash of problems social media platforms face, including bullying, abusive content, predators, and much more. And so far, they argue social media companies have done little to protect users.
For its part, Instagram has been trying to roll out additional features to protect children. Earlier this year, the company said it had turned on a new default feature that blocks adults from sending DMs to children. The company has also changed its algorithm to try to limit harmful content.
While the new features announced on Thursday aren’t specific to teens and are turned on for all users, they could be useful for kids who don’t want people to bully them or engage with them for illegal purposes. However, it would be nice to set the Close Friends feature once and forget it instead of being forced to reset it every four weeks.
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In addition to the updated Close Friends feature, Instagram is expanding its restrict feature, so users can stop others from tagging or mentioning them in their posts. With this feature, users must add people to a restricted list, which Instagram will cross-reference and automatically hide content.
For bullied teens, the ability to turn on these features is nice. It’s also important to stop someone from knowing they’re banned. Instagram said it will not alert people when they’ve been added to a restricted list or removed from a Close Friends list.