Instagram rolls out more anti-abuse features, will let you limit DMs and comments from non-followers

Instagram drew more flak over the summer after Black soccer stars in England were bombarded with racist messages after their Euro 2020 finals loss. Now, the Facebook-owned company is working to prevent these kinds of behaviour from happening again with three safety features.

"Limits" will allow you to prevent anyone who doesn't follow you or just recently followed you from commenting or sending a DM. This feature is rolling out globally. It sees limits being useful for businesses or creators who expect to see a spike in engagement with their content. You can disable comments and DMs entirely. But if you wanted to engage with your followers in a positive environment, this is one option. Instagram is also "exploring ways" to preemptively suggest to people to turn this feature on when there's a spike in activity.

Instagram is also developing its hidden words feature, which lets you automatically filter DMS with offensive words, phrases, and emojis. The feature will move these messages to a hidden folder. It now has a broader list of potentially offensive words, hashtags, and emojis. The app will also issue stricter warnings to people who try to post nasty comments.

Source: The Verge