Instagram’s new policy could have trolls losing their accounts

A change in Instagram’s policy might deter trolls from engaging in harmful behaviour online—unless they want their accounts deleted. As it stands, Instagram’s policy when it comes to disabling accounts is after a certain percentage of posted content violates its terms. Now, the company will remove accounts with a certain number of violations within a particular time frame. So, if someone goes on a racist, violent, or homophobic Instagram rant, they will be at risk of losing their accounts. This policy is similar to what’s being enforced on Facebook.

These users won’t lose their accounts instantly, though. Instagram will warn them if they’re at risk of being disabled. And it’ll let users appeal content deletion. It’s initially going to be available for posts that were deleted on the grounds of “nudity and pornography, bullying and harassment, hate speech, drug sales, and counter-terrorism.”

We can’t say if this new policy is in response to a recent incident. But it’s a step in the right direction. Instagram found itself in the hot seat once again when photos of a young woman’s brutally murdered body were posted on the app. It remained on the app long after images were reported because bad actors kept reuploading the gruesome images. Instagram users took action by trying to populate the hashtag and the victim’s handle with photos of pink clouds to drown out the images.

Source: Fast Company