There’s no doubt trolls and bullies are a huge problem when it comes to social media, and it appears Instagram is finally doing something about the constant bullying that happens on their site.
The social media site just introduced a new tool called “Restrict,” which will allow users to secretly hide certain commenters from their account. When that person is restricted, all of their future comments to that account won’t be visible to the public, and the poster won’t even know it. In fact, while the troll will still see their comment, they won’t realize it’s invisible to anyone else looking at that page.
Here’s how it works:
A user finds the comment the bully left on their photo.
They can then swipe left on the comment to “restrict” the person.
The restricted person won’t be notified that they’ve been hidden, and can continue to post but only they will see it.
I am actually familiar with this function. On Facebook, I have the option to "hide" a comment. On my Need To Know With Jeff Angelo page, when someone says something offensive or engages in name-calling, I can hide that particular comment and the user (and his friends) don't know.
Unlike Facebook, this option allows you to "hide" future comments - which I think will be particularly useful in dealing with constantly obnoxious posters.