In an effort to protect the online community, Instagram is taking a step further to remove more negative content from the platform – including harmful memes and cartoons.
In February, the photo-sharing platform banned harmful and violent images after a parent protested against them. Now, Instagram is going a step further and removing any content that could depict physical harm – even if it’s satirical or done in a joking manner.
Adam Mosseri (@mosseri), Head of Instagram, elaborated more on this update in a recently blog post.
“This past month, we further expanded our policies to prohibit more types of [harmful] content. We will no longer allow . . . drawings or memes or content from films or comics that use graphic imagery,” Mosseri wrote.
“We will also remove other imagery that may not [be harmful], but does include associated materials or methods.
Since the policy change in February, Mosseri reports that Instagram removed or added sensitivity screens to mare than 834,000 pieces of content and were able to find 77% of them before being reported.
Instagram accounts sharing this type of content will not be recommended in Explore pages so they won’t be sought out by other users.
This new policy – along with recently updates like removing the cosmetic surgery fitlers and launching the anti-bullying sticker campaign – proves that Instagram is making an effort towards improving mental health and wellbeing of its users.
“Nothing is more important to me than the safety of the people who use Instagram, particularly the most vulnerable,” Mosseri wrote.
“These issues are complicated – there are many opinions about how best to approach them — but they matter a lot, and to me, as a parent, they certainly hit home,” he added.
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