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Instagram will now stop shoving “potentially harmful” content in your face

The change also includes hiding more posts that contain content that users frequently report.

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Image: KnowTechie

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Instagram has announced a new moderation feature that hopes to clean up users’ Feeds. The platform is now taking more action on “potentially harmful” content as well as posts containing content that you regularly report.

In a blog post on the company’s website yesterday, the platform announced its new moderation changes. It won’t be removing any extra posts as part of this change. But it will start showing potentially harmful content much lower on users’ Feeds.

Of course, the platform already has moderation practices to deal with content that goes against its Community Guidelines. Posts known to contain bullying, hate speech, or promoting violence are automatically removed by the platform.

This new policy deals with posts that the platform thinks may contain potentially harmful content. For those posts that fall in the maybe category, Instagram will now start showing them lower in users’ Feeds.

instagram harmful content
Image: KnowTechie

In addition to de-ranking those “maybe” posts, the platform is also looking at users on an individual basis to deal with the content that each user tends to report. Posts that contain that type of content will also now be shown lower in the Feed of that individual user.

Now, your reports will (hopefully) stop other posts containing similar content from appearing so frequently and highly on your feed.

This isn’t an expansion of Instagram’s Community Guidelines. Instead, it’s an effort to limit some of the harmful content that comes close to breaking the platform’s rules. It should also give users more control over the kind of content that they see on the platform, which is always a good move.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Staff writer at KnowTechie. Alex has two years of experience covering all things technology, from video games to electric cars. He's a gamer at heart, with a passion for first-person shooters and expansive RPGs. Shoot him an email at alex@knowtechie.com

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