Instagram will begin cloaking photos it deems “sensitive” with a blur screen that warns users of potentially troubling content.
This is the latest tool in a series instituted by Instagram to make the mobile photo- and video-sharing platform “safer” for its more than 600 million users. CEO Kevin Systrom wrote on the Instagram blog that photos will only be screened after a user has complained and a review team evaluates whether the content merits the warning cover.
“This change means you are less likely to have a surprising or unwanted experience in the app,” Systrom wrote.
Systrom’s blog post, published Thursday, did not spell out what type of content would be sensitive enough to blur, though some pictures that get the warning could still fall within Instagram’s current decency guidelines.
In an email statement to The Verge, Instagram clarified: “Examples include animal rights groups that share content to expose animal testing conditions or animal abuse or content that raises awareness of humanitarian crises around the world (famine, impact of war on local community),” the statement read.
A viewer can opt to look at the picture by clicking on the words “See Photo” at the bottom of the warning.
Instagram also announced a two-factor authentication option that can be found under the gear icon on your profile.
To understand all the privacy tools Instagram now provides, click here to learn about account blocking comment controls and other features.
Via: PetaPixel
David Pierini is a former newspaper writer and long-time photographer. Considered a luddite by most of his friends, they did not believe him when he broke the news that he would be writing for a technology website. He is fascinated by human nature and would love to cultivate stories about the people driving the tech bus. Reach out to him at [email protected].
One response to “Instagram will blur ‘sensitive’ photos if anyone complains”
I hate it that there are people who wake up every day with the goal of ruining someone else’s day. Case in point, my instagram posts have become spammer’s delight, wasting my time with “likes” from what is clearly someone’s idea of a social media advertising campaign (no, I don’t believe that four Mexican restaurants in my area coincidentally “liked” a picture of my dog less than ten minutes apart).
More to the article’s point, I can’t search any topic on Insta that doesn’t return pr@n results. Maybe I’m getting old (technically we all are) but who gets their jollies posting nudes and tagging them #yoga or #hound? Not sure Instagram’s solution – blurring any questionable content – is a good solution, but I would hope it would cause them to create some sort of review process when pictures are flagged.