A new feature from image-sharing site Instagram aims to fight online abuse by restricting messages during periods of increased activity.

The move will allow users to hide comments made by people who do not follow them or have become followers recently during activity spikes. This aims to stop large numbers of people swarming users and adding negative comments.

An example of this was the recent abuse scandal in the wake of England’s defeat in the Euros. This saw a torrent of racist abuse aimed at English footballers such as Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Sako and Jaden Sancho in the hours after the match. Under the new system, messages would be hidden during the sudden spike in activity.

“Our research shows that a lot of negativity towards public figures comes from people who don’t actually follow them, or who have only recently followed them, and who simply pile on in the moment,” Instagram noted in a statement.

“We saw this after the recent Euro 2020 final, which resulted in a significant – and unacceptable – spike in racist abuse towards players.”

The system will allow users to continue receiving comments from people who follow them during periods of increased activity.

In addition, Instagram will help fight online abuse by including stronger warnings when people try to post potentially offensive comments and will roll-out its Hidden Words feature globally, which allows people to filter abusive DM requests.

Online Abuse

Almost since its beginning, abuse has been an issue plaguing the internet. As people more people moved online, and especially as they use it more and more for socialising, so too has the issue grown.

The problem came into focus earlier this year in the aftermath of England’s defeat in the Euros football tournament. Despite the evidence and technical capacity of the social media companies, research found that many accounts responsible for the abuse remained online.

In addition, a recent report warned that antisemitism is still rife online, with companies failing to crack down on it.

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Even at the best of times, social media can be a contributor to poor mental health through feelings of inadequacy. But when active abuse goes unrestricted, it can have serious consequences. Experts have warned that the rate of suicide among young people have risen alongside social media use.

Social media companies have generally had a difficult time managing abuse on their platforms. The US Senate hearings before and after the US presidential election illustrate both sides of the problem – on the left, politicians attacked the CEOs of Twitter and Facebook for failing to properly moderate their platforms. Meanwhile, right-wing politicians accused them of censorship.

However, there are calls for governments to take a role in handling online abuse, including potentially regulating social media companies.