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In the last few months, Instagram has rolled out a few alterations. We told you that the company is promoting videos as the future of social media and enhancing its addictive algorithm. Many people are outraged by this. However, the company’s newest alteration has received a lot of praise.
Users have received a recent update to the app’s sensitive content control feature. Starting this summer, the app has added a new filter that removes content that other users can view even if they are not following them. Users will see a lot more content from people they do not follow as a result of Instagram’s recent algorithm change. Ads are inevitable, but this algorithm filters out certain ad content.
Users can select what type of ads they prefer to see and what they don’t, and that’s where we’re at now. Users can now choose to see less content related to weight loss and weight control, which brings us to now.
Weight control content has been filtered out of Instagram for years. Parents, educators, and lawmakers have been demanding that the app controls how it provides certain information that might be harmful to individuals, particularly young users.
Around a year ago, Instagram influencer Katie Budenberg started a petition to ask the app to add weight loss and diet ads to the list of subjects users could opt out of seeing. A year ago, the app reacted by adding parenting, alcohol, and politics to the list, in addition to weight loss ads. Budenberg praised the change in her account with the caption, ‘I don’t know if it was us, but most importantly, we can now ask not to see weight loss ads.’ The petition collected 30,000 signatures before Instagram announced it.
Was the petition, then, what prompted Instagram to make the change?
Let’s see what other social media sites are doing to address harmful weight loss content. Well, that’s not clear. It’s interesting to know what other social media platforms are doing to address the problems of triggering weight loss content. Instagram seems to be desperate to imitate a certain social network lately.
In 2020, amid widespread criticism that TikTok was advertising hazardous diets, the company established new restrictions on weight loss advertisements. It also partnered with the National Eating Disorder Association to redirect searches and tags for terms it believed were hazardous to the association’s helpline, according to The Verge.
That was a good start, but to manage what users see on TikTok, it has to control its algorithm. Algorithms are hard to manage, but users can click on certain videos and select not interested options to limit those types of videos in the future.
While body positive activists believe that bodies should not be defined as either good or bad entities or celebrated on Instagram, body neutral advocates favour a neutral approach to nakedness.
It’s hard to tell whether this new policy will be effective, and whether it is just the latest tactic in line with its search competitor. For those who prefer to steer clear of sensitive content, this change is clearly favorable.
What do you think of those new ads.filter rules in Instagram and TikTok? Let us know down in the comments.
