Instagram’s recent rollouts of updates to its platform continues this week with two more changes around post and account take-downs, as well as a new process for appealing content deletion that it will expand in the coming months.
The company announced in a blog post on Thursday that it will begin notifying users if their account is in danger of being taken down, a notification system that will also allow users to appeal directly through Instagram some content that the company has removed, rather than doing so through the Help Center. The changes may help prevent accounts and posts that have been flagged in error from being removed without warning.
“To start, appeals will be available for content deleted for violations of our nudity and pornography, bullying and harassment, hate speech, drug sales, and counter-terrorism policies, but we’ll be expanding appeals in the coming months,” the company said. “If content is found to be removed in error, we will restore the post and remove the violation from the account’s record.”
With respect to an account’s “record,” Instagram also said it is expanding the parameters under which accounts may be removed. Instagram has in the past removed accounts with a certain percentage of violations of its rules. But the company will now yank profiles that exceed a certain number of violations within a specific timeframe, a change that may help it better police this kind of shit.
In addition to these changes, users in some countries may also notice that Instagram is testing hiding likes and video views on individual posts, the company said this week. It was a possible update spotted by researcher Jane Manchun Wong back in April and one I’ve argued would fix one of the worst things about Instagram. For now, the company said it’ll be running the test in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand.
“We want your friends to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get,” the company tweeted Wednesday. “You can still see your own likes by tapping on the list of people who’ve liked it, but your friends will not be able to see how many likes your post has received.”
It’s almost like watching a social network actually try to fix itself.