A study published last week by the British organization “Center to Combat Hate Speech” (CCDH) revealed a worrying situation about the safety and well-being of users on Instagram. More specifically, the post pointed out that Meta’s social network does not address 90% of harassment messages directed at women, even if it is publicly known and has millions of followers.
Methodology and problem
To prepare the study, CCDH recruited five famous women, including actress Amber Heard and activist Jamie Klinger, who together have nearly 4.8 million followers on Instagram. Through the data provided, 8,717 direct messages, popularly known as “DMs”, which were eventually used as the basis for testing the functionality of the platform, were analyzed.
Unfortunately, the results showed that at least one out of fifteen direct messages sent to participants violated Instagram’s terms of conduct. In this context, the statistics of 125 cases of sexual abuse through images (IBSA) and one out of every seven voice messages sent were associated with harassment were also detected. Worse still, Instagram still allows strangers to contact these profiles via voice calls without many restrictions.
Dysfunctional reporting channels
Testing Instagram’s response efficiency, CCDH reported ten abusive direct messages, with only 10% success in suggesting an adequate solution. Similarly, the platform did not take action against the infringing images within 48 hours.
According to CCDH, the problem arose and persists due to Instagram’s negligence regarding breaches, making the platform environment safer for violators than users. This stance resulted in some women restricting their freedom of expression for fear of further toxic situations – which also prevented some from participating in the study.
In addition, some women who use the platform as a base for their business also expressed fear of taking a stand and facing internal sanctions that could affect their professional results, such as reducing the reach of publications. The best solution for CCDH would be to fix Instagram’s reporting channels and limit features that allow outsiders to communicate with users.
Through Instagram Women’s Safety Lead Cindy Southworth, Meta addressed the survey results without offering many practical solutions to the currently ongoing problem. Check out the entire research by clicking here.
Source: Tec Mundo
