Instagram Adds New Features To Limit DMs And Comments From Accounts That Don't Follow

New features of Instagram (Facebook)

YOGYAKARTA - Cyberbullying on social media is no longer something foreign to the people of Indonesia. Especially if you have followers that reach hundreds of thousands – bullying comments from haters of course have become daily food. And this condition has received serious attention from Instagram.

Yesterday, Wednesday, August 11, Instagram announced its newest feature. Named 'Limit' – or limits if translated literally, this feature serves to protect against harassment on Instagram.

“We have a responsibility to make sure all users feel safe when on Instagram. We do not allow hate speech or bullying on Instagram, and we will delete it whenever it is found," wrote Adam Mosseri as Head of Instagram via the official blog, Wednesday, August 11.

Prevent Unknown People from Commenting or Sending DM

This latest Instagram feature is able to prevent other accounts from sending DMs or comments. But, not all accounts are restricted. These restrictions only apply to non-followers or new followers.

This new security feature has been available globally since yesterday. And according to Adam's explanation, this feature will be useful for businesses or creators who often get bad comments from netizens.

Indeed, in terms of limiting access, there is a manual method that account owners can use. Namely by disabling the comment column or DM. However, according to Instagram, this latest solution will be useful for creators who still expect positive engagement with their followers.

Therefore, Instagram also states that it is exploring ways to make recommendations for activating this feature appear on creator accounts. Especially when creators face an increasing number of hate speech or harassment in the comments or DMs.

"Our research shows that there is a lot of negativity directed at public figures that comes from accounts that don't follow them, or who just follow them, or who just follow the moment," said Adam.

In addition, Adam continued, Instagram also added a warning feature that someone would receive when they wanted to upload a comment containing bullying. Previously, this feature was first launched by the company and has appeared in a number of user posts.

“And if they (users, -ed) try to repeatedly upload abusive content, we will issue a more severe warning – alerting them to our Community Guidelines and warnings that their content will be removed or hidden if it continues to be uploaded.