Instagram to ‘shame’ you for saying mean things by scanning your posts with AI
INSTAGRAM will now shame you for writing mean things in your photo or video captions.
The Facebook-owned social network will use a clever AI to scan your posts to identify when you're probably bullying someone.
Then before you can make the post, you'll be warned that you may be about to hurt someone's feelings.
You'll be given the opportunity to edit the caption, or "Learn More" about Instagram's rules.
Alternatively, you can ignore the warning and press "Share Anyway" to post the caption.
"We've developed and tested AI that can recognise different forms of bullying on Instagram," Facebook explained.
"In addition to limiting the reach of bullying, this warning helps educate people on what we don't allow on Instagram."
Earlier this year, Instagram began using to detect harassment in comments, but the latest update extends this to captions.
It's not clear exactly how mean your caption needs to be to trigger the warning.
Instagram has trained the AI using other captions that have been reported for bullying.
It's possible that Instagram's AI will falsely flag your post as being mean – even if it's not.
Instagram says the new feature is part of its "long-term commitment to lead the fight against online bullying".
The feature is intended to make people "reconsider" posts that could make someone feel victimised.
Instagram said that the feature will be rolling out in select countries today.
And global expansion will take place "in the coming months".
Instagram – the key facts
Here's what you need to know...
- Instagram is a social network for sharing photos and videos
- It was created back in October 2010 as an iPhone-exclusive app
- A separate version for Android devices was released 18 months later
- The app rose to popularity thanks to its filters system, which lets you quickly edit your photos with cool effects
- When it first launched, users could only post square 1:1 ratio images, but that rule was changed in 2015
- In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1billion in cash and stock
- In 2018, some analysts believe the app is worth closer to $100billion
- In October 2015, Instagram confirmed that more than 40billion photos had been uploaded to the app
- And in 2018, Instagram revealed that more than a billion people were using the app every month
Instagram is under constant pressure to make the photo-sharing app safer.
But tackling bullying and harassment with stricter rules can sometimes backfire.
Last week, YouTube left fans and creators fuming after allegedly taking down swathes of popular videos from the site.
The sweeping move was part of a new scheme by the US video-sharing site to crack down on what it perceives as bullying on its platform.
YouTube announced new rules to prevent "harassment" on Wednesday and swiftly began deleting older videos that it said violated the new terms.
On Twitter, YouTube wrote: "Many of you have told us we need to do a better job preventing harassment on YouTube.
"We consulted with a wide array of creators, experts and organisations to update our harassment policy, which changed today."
The new rules tighten restrictions on abusive language, threats and "prolonged attacks attributes such as race, physical traits, sexual orientation, religion or gender".
The hashtag '#YouTubeIsOver' trended on Twitter for several hours on Thursday.
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In other news, find out how to find your Instagram 'Top 9' photos for 2019.
Instagram has started asking for birthdates and will use AI to tell if you’re lying.
Facebook is working on a 'Close Friends' feature for Stories just like Instagram.
And, Instagram has removed 1.6million disturbing photos and videos depicting suicide and self-harm this year.
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