Instagram is creating a new filter to protect users from receiving unwanted nudes in their conversations.
According to The Verge, the new feature is in its early phases of development and will be optional for users. This information was confirmed by Instagram’s parent company Meta.
Instagram hides photos that might include potential nudes in a user’s direct messages (DM) inbox, despite the fact that Instagram cannot inspect the images themselves, as was discovered by an app researcher on Twitter.
“Technology on your device covers photos that may contain nudity in chats. Instagram can’t access the photos,” the researcher noticed in an early screenshot of the program.
“Technology on your device covers photos that may contain nudity in chats. Instagram can’t access the photos,” the researcher noticed in an early screenshot of the program.
The researcher’s depiction of the functionality indicates that photographs would be concealed unless a user chose to access them. The software will automatically blur out the image if it discovers a nudity-containing photo in the user’s DM if they want to allow the feature.
The reason for implementing this new feature
Concerns that Instagram is ignoring the misogynistic abuse that female users experience led to the development of the new function. In a report released in April by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the app was charged with ignoring an “epidemic of misogynist abuse” sent to its female users via the platform’s direct messages (DMs). According to research, 90% of abusive image-based DMs sent to popular female Instagram users remained unanswered.
“There is an epidemic of misogynist abuse taking place in women’s DMs. Meta and Instagram must put the rights of women before profit,” said the campaign group’s chief executive Imran Ahmed.
Instagram responded to the complaint by stating that if the behavior continues, harsher sanctions would be put in place. A strike and a temporary ban from sending Direct Messages will be applied to infringing accounts (DMs).