‘Hidden Words:’ Instagram Plans to Automatically Censor Direct Messages

Via Reclaim the Net:

Hidden Words uses a “predefined list of offensive terms” and filters DM requests and Story replies that contain these terms into a separate hidden requests folder. Instagram says it worked with “leading anti-discrimination and anti-bullying organizations” to develop the list of terms.

Users of Hidden Words can also create their own list of custom words, phrases, or emojis that they want filtered from DM requests and Story replies. However, the predefined list of terms that was developed by Instagram and the anti-discrimination and anti-bullying organizations isn’t revealed to users.

Instagram said that it would also be expanding its Hidden Words filtering to “spot and hide more intentional misspellings of offensive terms, for instance, if someone uses a ‘1’ instead of an ‘i.’”

In addition to the word-filtering tool, Instagram also plans to expand “nudges,” which warn users when they are about to reply to a message or a comment that the platform’s systems consider to be offensive. – READ MORE