Do you post controversial or easily misinterpreted pictures on Instagram?
Life is about to get a whole lot easier for you – especially if you post things that get reported and taken down all the time because now you can appeal that block.
This is part of the company’s drive to provide accurate information but also allow users the freedom to post what they like.
As part of a new app interface users will be able to request a second opinion on any posts that are flagged and blocked on the service.
The company also announced plans to focus on anti-vaccination posts in particular.
They’ll still be allowed, to a certain extent, but their reach will be limited and they won’t be findable in search.
Though vaccines are the focus of the initial phases the program will be rolled out to other so-called controversial content.
According to DPReview, optical character recognition is used to find the text in the images and determine whether it violates these terms of service.
One interesting aspect of this system is that, if a post is removed on Instagram, any hashtags attached to the post will also receive a “strike” against them.
The head of policy for Instagram Karina Newton said of the changes, “We work really closely with subject matter experts, raise issues that might be playing out differently on Instagram than Facebook, and we identify gaps where we need to change how our policies are operationalized or our policies are changed.”
Although undoubtedly many people do receive information from Facebook and Instagram, some of which can be harmful, one can’t help but think that all of this is part of an effort to make Instagram a safer space for advertising dollars, the bulk of which come from huge firms with no taste for controversy whatsoever.
[DPReview]
