Instagram has launched a series of new tools to tackle abuse from trolls — including one that allows users to automatically hide comments from anyone who doesn’t follow them.

The aim of the Limits feature is to stop waves of abuse from accounts who ‘pile on in the moment’, the Facebook-owned service said. 

It comes amid ongoing scrutiny of social media and how it handles abuse following the racist attacks on England footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 final.

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Instagram has launched new tools to tackle abuse from trolls — including Limits (pictured) that allows users to automatically hide comments from anyone who doesn't follow them

Instagram has launched new tools to tackle abuse from trolls — including Limits (pictured) that allows users to automatically hide comments from anyone who doesn't follow them

Instagram has launched new tools to tackle abuse from trolls — including Limits (pictured) that allows users to automatically hide comments from anyone who doesn’t follow them

Police arrest 11 people over racist social media abuse of England stars after Euro 2020 defeat

As of August 5, police had arrested 11 people aged between 18 and 63 in connection with the racist social media abuse of England footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 final.

They include three people from London, two from Christchurch, Dorset, one from Runcorn, Cheshire, one from Sale, Greater Manchester, one from Folkestone, Kent, one from Reading, one from Shrewsbury and one from Worcester. 

The UK Football Policing Unit said that of the 207 social media posts deemed to be criminal, 34 came from accounts in Britain and 123 in other countries. 

Yesterday Twitter said the UK was ‘by far’ the main origin of the ‘abhorrent racist abuse’ on its platform after England’s penalty shootout defeat against Italy. 

The social media network said 99 per cent of the accounts it suspended over the abuse were not anonymous, although it did not disclose how many accounts were suspended.

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Limits will let people automatically hide comments and direct message requests from other users who do not already follow, or have only recently followed them.

It is being rolled out to all Instagram users globally from today and will enable people to decide for how long they would like to hide comments and message requests from non-followers and those who only started following them in the last week.  

Instagram has strengthened the in-app warnings it shows to those who attempt to post abuse – warning users they face having their account removed if they continue to send abusive comments. 

It is also launching its Hidden Words filter tool to all users globally, allowing people to filter out words, phrases and emojis they don’t want to see.

The company said the aim of the new features was to give people more control while ensuring they feel safe when using the platform.

Instagram’s public policy manager for Europe, Tom Gault, said that the Limits tool was being introduced to combat incidents like the Euro 2020 final, when public figures see a sudden spike in targeted comments and message requests in the wake of an event.

‘Our own research, as well as feedback from public figures, shows that a lot of the negativity directed at high-profile people comes from those who don’t follow them or who recently followed them,’ he said.

‘And this is the kind of behaviour that we saw after the Euros final.’

Yesterday Twitter said the UK was ‘by far’ the main origin of the ‘abhorrent racist abuse’ on its platform after England’s penalty shootout defeat against Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

The social media network said 99 per cent of the accounts it suspended over the abuse were not anonymous, although it did not disclose how many accounts were suspended. 

As of last week, police had arrested 11 people aged between 18 and 63 in connection with the abuse directed at Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho after they missed penalties in England’s loss.

The UK Football Policing Unit said that of the 207 social media posts deemed to be criminal, 34 came from accounts in Britain and 123 in other countries. 

The aim of the Limits feature is to stop waves of abuse from accounts who 'pile on in the moment', Instagram said. It is also launching its Hidden Words filter tool (pictured) to all users globally, allowing people to filter out words, phrases and emojis they don't want to see

The aim of the Limits feature is to stop waves of abuse from accounts who 'pile on in the moment', Instagram said. It is also launching its Hidden Words filter tool (pictured) to all users globally, allowing people to filter out words, phrases and emojis they don't want to see

The aim of the Limits feature is to stop waves of abuse from accounts who ‘pile on in the moment’, Instagram said. It is also launching its Hidden Words filter tool (pictured) to all users globally, allowing people to filter out words, phrases and emojis they don’t want to see

It comes amid ongoing scrutiny of social media and how it handles abuse following the racist attacks on England footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka (pictured with manager Gareth Southgate) after the Euro 2020 final

It comes amid ongoing scrutiny of social media and how it handles abuse following the racist attacks on England footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka (pictured with manager Gareth Southgate) after the Euro 2020 final

It comes amid ongoing scrutiny of social media and how it handles abuse following the racist attacks on England footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka (pictured with manager Gareth Southgate) after the Euro 2020 final

Middle-aged MUMS ‘are the most likely to troll social media influencers’

Middle-aged mums are the most likely to troll social media influencers, an Instagram star told MPs last month.

Em Sheldon, who documents her lifestyle to more than 117,000 Instagram followers, warned the relentless daily attacks could lead to more depression and suicide.

The 27-year-old said how there were people in a ‘dark space of the internet’ who saw it as their ‘sole mission to ruin our lives’.

Many become obsessed and write abuse about them all day, she said, becoming particularly ‘angry’ when they started earning money through adverts.

But the ‘saddest part about it’ was that it predominantly came from ‘grown women’ with children and decent jobs.

Ms Sheldon was speaking to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, who are looking into the growth of ‘influencer culture’ and its effect on society.

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Mr Gault said Instagram had also found that some celebrities and public figures did not want to cut off comments entirely because they often received a lot of messages of support.

‘Often the incident that caused the spike in comments is one which also leads to huge volumes of supportive messages from longer-term followers. People still want to hear from that community as well,’ he said.

‘So, that is why we genuinely think this feature will be so effective, it means you can hear from your returning followers, while limiting contact with people who might be coming to your account to target you.’

The tool could also be expanded in the future to automatically prompt users to turn on Limits when the platform detects a user may be experiencing a spike in comments and direct messages.

Writing in a blog post announcing the new features, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said: ‘We don’t allow hate speech or bullying on Instagram, and we remove it whenever we find it.

‘We also want to protect people from having to experience this abuse in the first place, which is why we’re constantly listening to feedback from experts and our community, and developing new features to give people more control over their experience on Instagram, and help protect them from abuse.

‘We hope these new features will better protect people from seeing abusive content, whether it’s racist, sexist, homophobic or any other type of abuse.

‘We know there’s more to do, including improving our systems to find and remove abusive content more quickly, and holding those who post it accountable.

‘We also know that, while we’re committed to doing everything we can to fight hate on our platform, these problems are bigger than us.

‘We will continue to invest in organisations focused on racial justice and equity, and look forward to further partnership with industry, governments and NGOs to educate and help root out hate. This work remains unfinished, and we’ll continue to share updates on our progress.’

Government reveals ‘landmark’ internet laws to curb hate and harmful content in Online Safety Bill draft 

Ofcom will have the power to fine social media firms and block access to sites under new ‘landmark’ internet laws aimed at tackling abusive and harmful content online.

On May 12, the government published the draft Online Safety Bill, which it says will help keep children safe online and combat racism and other abuse.

The Bill will require social media and other platforms to remove and limit harmful content, with large fines for failing to protect users.

The government has also included a deferred power making senior managers at firms criminally liable for failing to follow a new duty of care, which could be introduced at a later date, while provisions to tackle online scams and protect freedom of expression have also been included.

Pressure to more strictly regulate internet companies has grown in recent years amid increasing incidents of online abuse. 

A wide range of professional sports, athletes and organisations recently took part in a social media boycott in protest at alleged inaction by tech firms against online abuse.

As the new online regulator, Ofcom will be given the power to fine companies who fail to comply up to £18 million or 10 per cent of their annual global turnover, whichever is higher – a figure which could run into billions of pounds for larger companies.

Ofcom will also have the power to block access to sites, the government said.

The new rules, which are expected to be brought before Parliament in the coming months, are set to be the first major set of regulations for the internet anywhere in the world.

‘Today the UK shows global leadership with our ground-breaking laws to usher in a new age of accountability for tech and bring fairness and accountability to the online world,’ Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he added: ‘What does all of that mean in the real world? It means a 13-year-old will no longer be able to access pornographic images on Twitter. YouTube will be banned from recommending videos promoting terrorist ideologies.

‘Criminal anti-semitic posts will need to be removed without delay, while platforms will have to stop the intolerable level of abuse that many women face in almost every single online setting.

‘And, of course, this legislation will make sure the internet is not a safe space for horrors such as child sexual abuse or terrorism.’

As part of the new duty of care rules, the largest tech companies and platforms will not only be expected to take action against the most dangerous content, but also take action against content that is lawful but still harmful, such as that linked to suicide and self-harm and misinformation.

The government said the deferred power to pursue criminal action against named senior managers would be introduced if tech companies fail to live up to their new responsibilities, with a review of the new rules set to take place two years after it is introduced.

The proposed laws will also target online scams, requiring online firms to take responsibility for fraudulent user-generated content, including financial fraud schemes such as romance scams or fake investment opportunities where people are tricked into sending money to fake identities or companies.

And there are further provisions to protect what the government calls democratic content, which will forbid platforms from discriminating against particular political viewpoints, and allow certain types of content which would otherwise be banned if it is defined as ‘democratically important’.

‘This new legislation will force tech companies to report online child abuse on their platforms, giving our law enforcement agencies the evidence they need to bring these offenders to justice,’ Home Secretary Priti Patel said.

‘Ruthless criminals who defraud millions of people and sick individuals who exploit the most vulnerable in our society cannot be allowed to operate unimpeded, and we are unapologetic in going after them.

‘It’s time for tech companies to be held to account and to protect the British people from harm. If they fail to do so, they will face penalties.’

However, the NSPCC has warned that the draft Bill fails to offer the comprehensive protection that children should receive on social media.

The children’s charity said it believes the Bill fails to place responsibility on tech firms to address the cross-platform nature of abuse and is being undermined by not holding senior managers accountable immediately.

Sir Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: ‘Government has the opportunity to deliver a transformative Online Safety Bill if they choose to make it work for children and families, not just what’s palatable to tech firms.

‘The ambition to achieve safety by design is the right one. But this landmark piece of legislation risks falling short if Oliver Dowden does not tackle the complexities of online abuse and fails to learn the lessons from other regulated sectors.

‘Successful regulation requires the powers and tools necessary to achieve the rhetoric.

‘Unless Government stands firm on their promise to put child safety front and centre of the Bill, children will continue to be exposed to harm and sexual abuse in their everyday lives which could have been avoided.’

Labour called the proposals ‘watered down and incomplete’ and said the new rules did ‘very little’ to ensure children are safe online.

Shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens said: ‘There is little to incentivise companies to prevent their platforms from being used for harmful practices.

‘The Bill, which will have taken the Government more than five years from its first promise to act to be published, is a wasted opportunity to put into place future proofed legislation to provide an effective and all-encompassing regulatory framework to keep people safe online.’

Source: PA 

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This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk

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