Instagram Can’t Protect Women From Abusive DMs, New Study Says
Despite all efforts to limit potentially harmful content, Instagram apparently can’t protect women from abusive DMs. A new study reveals that the social network does not act in 9 out of 10 cases of abusive behavior towards women, and more – hundreds of abusive users have been allowed to remain active months after being reported on the platform. the study in question is aptly titled “Hidden Hate”, and it was conducted by The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an international non-profit organization that fights online abuse and misinformation.
Even though the study included a very small test group, which also consisted of famous people, the results are quite alarming. Over a month-long period, the five women in the study received a total of 8,717 DMs, and researchers found that one in 15 posts violated Instagram’s own content policies. abusive.
That’s about 6.5% or a total of 567 posts. Additionally, 253 users were reported through the platform’s tools, but 227 of them were allowed to remain active and continue their abusive behavior.
Source – CCHR
Who were the five participants/victims?
In order to generate enough data, the CCHR had to involve some fairly popular faces. The combined followers of the five women in the study total 4.8 million!
You would be surprised to know that one of the participants in this study is the famous actress Amber Heard – featured in hit films such as “Aquaman” and “Justice League”.
Then, we have Rachel Rileyhost of the British quiz show ‘Countdown’; Jamie Klinglerco-founder of Reclaim These Streets; Bryony Gordon, award-winning journalist and author; and Sharan Dhaliwalco-founder of Burnt Roti magazine.
You could argue that famous people are more prone to abuse and negative dispositions, but the DMs the five women received ranged from explicit sexual content and abuse to death threads. Apparently, Amber Heard was the most affected by the experience – she received numerous death threats against her, her family and her baby girl.
Being famous is one thing, but having your family threatened is completely unacceptable. What’s even more alarming is that the actress filed numerous complaints with the police before quitting Instagram for good.
Source – CCHR
Instagram disagrees
Cindy Southworth, head of women’s safety at Meta, Instagram’s parent company, released an official statement in which she said the company “does not agree with many of the findings of the CCDH.Exactly one year ago, in April 2021, Instagram launched a new feature, called “Hidden Words”. It was supposed to allow users to filter DMs containing hate speech, including requests.
According to the CCHR, this feature is completely ineffective, both technically and psychologically – because it forces people to expose themselves to abusive words and phrases in order to set up the filters.
Additionally, the CCHR guys also noted that it’s difficult for Instagram users to access data containing evidence of abusive posts, due to features like Vanish mode, which effectively destroys the post after a time.
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