Instagram to Issue Warnings in Crackdown Against 'False Information' and Photoshopped Images

Instagram to Issue Warnings in Crackdown Against 'False Information' and Photoshopped Images

In an internet-wide effort to reduce the spread of fake news and information, Instagram is the latest platform introducing new measures. A new feature will automatically flag any posts that are considered to be suspicious, sending them to independent fact-checkers to assess.

The new venture will extend to include marking any content that has been shared to Instagram via Facebook, and vice versa; perhaps unsurprising, given the former is owned by the latter.

Similarly to how Instagram currently polices potentially sensitive images within private messages, a “false information” overlay will appear over the top of the post, with the post itself blurred. What’s more, anyone attempting to share the image will receive a message warning them that they are sharing false information. The new rules will work both through help from the app’s users, and an automated system.

For the example post featured within their announcement, Instagram has used one of the most notorious hoax photos available on the net – that of a shark that was alleged to have washed up on a highway during Hurricane Harvey, before it was proved to be fake.

Users also run the risk of a ban from the Explore page, as well as in hashtags feeds, if they repeatedly break the rule regarding false information.

Jack Alexander's picture

A 28-year-old self-taught photographer, Jack Alexander specialises in intimate portraits with musicians, actors, and models.

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6 Comments

It's just for the show they provide us with these warnings. My harsh viewpoint is that after the long running stories of abuse Facebook should be avoided at all cost.
I filter them away with my dns-filtering-server.

Well said, Mutley.

FB was compromised from the beginning. Time has proved what happens when vast amounts of money come to the unprincipled...

The have-nots buy in to the idea that the man behind the curtain is their friend. A friend would neevvveeerrr lie. And pink elephants fly.

In my experience... this new "crackdown" is only eye wash for the regulators.

I'm still trying to one single person that changed their vote from Clinton to Trump because of Russian social media influence in 2016.

My former insurance agent swallowed the juice. I don't do business with her anymore.

There's at least one confused man of color in my town who thinks Trump is his friend and wants to party with him down at Mar-a-Lago...

Although, he's also such an intellectual wizard, he thinks NY State just passed a law making home break-ins legal.

Yeaaahhh, nope.

Nearly half of everything posted on Instasham is false information. Its a fantasy world...