Instagram will now let you control your comments in a small but significant update

Impact

While Instagram may be the place with the best Carly Rae Jepsen comments, it also has a harassment problem it’s been trying to handle with an AI system. In a blog post Tuesday, Instagram unveiled a much simpler way to combat trolls: comment control.

You’ll now be able to choose who comments on your posts: everyone, people you follow, your followers, or both the people you follow and your followers. For public and private accounts, you can choose specific people to block from commenting on your posts.

Instagram

Until this update, as BuzzFeed notes, “you could only block comments from people one by one, and it wasn’t possible to limit large groups of people.”

Instagram is bolstering safety for users in other ways, too. A filter for offensive comments that was previously English-only now also supports Arabic, French, German and Portuguese. For live video, Instagram now lets you anonymously report an account if you feel the broadcaster needs help. The app will suggest to that user that they call a hotline or text a friend who can help them.

Instagram

Online harassment remains a persistent issue across social media, especially as internet trolls evolve their tactics to circumvent community guidelines. The onus is on those platforms to keep up. Instagram’s newest comment tools, at the very least, are a good start. Carly Rae Jepsen would approve.