Instagram Has Been One Of The Top Social Media Leaders
Instagram has become one of the most well known, most popular, and most used social media platforms in the world.
With Instagram, it’s a great way to connect and communicate with people you know and don’t know. First, it all starts with having a presence in the form of your very own Instagram account.There are always plenty of people who want to become known and recognized. Instagram acts as a vehicle for it and leaves the door wide open for that opportunity.
If you want to build a following, it may not be as easy as it sounds since it usually doesn’t happen overnight. Typically, it takes time to have enough of a presence before others start noticing you.
It Doesn’t Mean That Instagram Is Immune To Having Flaws
With the many positives that Instagram has, it doesn’t change the fact that there will always be areas that can always be improved. There will never be a perfect platform.
Owned by Meta, formally known as Facebook for Business, Instagram has had its fair share of challenges over the years and is likely to continue for as long as it exists.Unsurprisingly, many changes and alterations have been made to Instagram since it first debuted. The bad news is that some of these changes have been met with significant criticism and controversy.
Controversies that have emerged include Policy Changes, Data Privacy, Censoring, AI-Generated Accounts, Mental Health Impact, Addiction, Overall Safety, and Content Moderation.Most of these disputes are within the control of Meta which can be applied to Instagram. The company can always find ways to improve the social media platform.
Others like addiction can be more of a double-edged sword. The same can be said about Mental Health when talking about teenagers.There has been a plethora of policy changes on the platform over time. Many of the changes have been geared towards teens. More specifically, anyone under the age of 18.
These changes include Restricted Messaging, Limited Interaction, Time Limits, Default Private Accounts, Anti-bullying Features, Sensitive Content Limitations, Increased Parental Supervision, Content Removal Appeal, and Account Disabling.To come up with perfect solutions to the long-lasting issues will always be a pipe dream. However, it doesn’t take away from the effort that can be put in for solutions to be effective.
All of these changes were implemented with the intent of adding layers of protection for teens who use the platform. Some intent can still come with a certain kind and amount of flaw.
With Changes, There Are Reactions
Each change has its own particular drawbacks. With changes in policy, the platforms algorithm becomes affected.
This in turn affects user experience and can amount to how much content will be visible. This typically can happen on any social media platform.For privacy, although it exists for all users, there are also specifically added restrictions that, like mentioned before, are more applied to teens and even younger.
With censoring of content, this can be a bit of a touchy area. Of course there is sensitive content that should not be put on display.However, certain topics that are restricted can lead to a barrage of complaints. These topics can include politics, sports, religion, technology, entertainment, and others that are among the most popular.
Censoring of such topics have seen a rise in criticism and accusations have even come from famous figures from different spectrums.With AI-Generated Accounts, this is an experiment that Meta decided to try. For the most part, it has not gone over well with Instagram users.
One of the biggest reasons it hasn’t gone over well has to do with the questionable authenticity of the accounts. If there is an AI-Generated account of a real person, that can easily cause confusion.It can also cause real people to suspect that fake accounts of themselves are being created. This can then lead to perceived “fake” accounts being reported.
Regardless of the social media platform, it’s not guaranteed that everyone will follow technology news whether frequently or regularly.Many may not even know about new features or changes whether they are announced or implemented already until a later time afterwards.
It can also negatively impact influencers and content creators who are trying to grow their following and possible brands they may have.For Mental Health, although it can potentially affect anyone regardless of age, this specifically regards teens and younger. This is because these ages are often among the most vulnerable.
This has even been discussed through studies and has also been reported on by other social media outlets including various news sources.With Addiction, it can happen to anyone. The focus is still mostly centered on the youngest age groups being teens and children.
Overall Safety will always be one of the biggest challenges for any social media platform. There is never a guarantee for there to be a perfect solution.Applying the best measures for maximum security all while allowing for there to be the best user experience possible is key.
With Content Moderation, that can cause significant conflict whenever there’s a situation that involves filtering that isn’t needed.Lesser visible content or any that is not supposed to be present on the platform will not go unnoticed.
Content that should not be on the platform but somehow is deemed acceptable instead can easily be contradictory to the guidelines that are set in place.
With Even More Changes, There Are Even More Reactions
With more on the mental health of teens and younger, Instagram’s changes in order to create balance on the platform will still have pros and cons.
There have been complaints from teens about receiving messages from unfamiliar people they don’t want to receive messages from.Complaints about these issues are understandable since there are always ill-intentioned individuals on every corner of the internet who also purposely make themselves unseen by lurking in the shadows.
With restricted messaging, teens and children can only receive messages only from followers and people they are connected with. This goes hand and glove with limited interaction.For Time Limits, teens and preteens are given reminders of a 60 minute window for being on the platform. This is to help minimize excessive use.
With accounts, in 2024, Instagram introduced Default Private Accounts or Teen Accounts. Unsurprisingly, there are always going to be unseen gaps.With Anti-bullying features, this goes back to teens communicating with everyone they are already connected with.
However, that doesn’t mean that someone who is already connected is not completely immune to having their account hacked by someone else who intends to cause harm.It can be shocking what lengths some hostile people will go to just to get at or get to others just to cause trouble.
There is also Sensitive Content Limit. In the past, there have been complaints from teens as well as parents about content popping up on teens’ account feeds that they don’t want to see.With added restrictions, it also calls for parents to become more involved as Instagram now prompts younger uses to ask for parents’ permission to change restrictions on their children’s accounts. This also helps with the contribution of Increased Parental Supervision.
There can be significant conflict with acceptable content being unfairly removed from Instagram. Whenever that happens, it can lead to the step involving Content Removal Appeal.With Account Disabling, there’s the user’s choice of disabling his or her account either temporarily or permanently.
There are conditions and steps that must be considered upon doing either action. If the user wants to reactivate their account, the user must understand the conditions and steps to do so.Then there’s the situation when a user’s account is disabled without warning and for no clear reason. This is one of those constant conflicts that exist not only just on Instagram but also on other leading social media platforms.
That’s where the option of making an appeal comes in. Reasons for penalty are not often made clear and there’s often lack of explanation behind such penalties.
What Prohibited Content Can Hide In Plain Sight And How?
Unsurprisingly, Instagram has faced controversy for passing questionable content as acceptable instead. This is often how prohibited and even illegal content can appear or hide in plain sight.
Continuing with Content Moderation, this has caused Instagram to have constant inconsistencies in regards to it.Although Instagram has rules and policies, they are not always followed like they should be. Meta is also involved and responsible in these situations since the company owns Instagram.
Somehow, there has been a fair amount of unfitting content that has made its way onto the platform which has left many users with many questions and many complaints.Sensitive and unfavorable content that has managed to appear on the platform include violence, drugs, and sexually explicit material.
These issues have even been brought to public attention, covered, and discussed on other media platforms.News and news related outlets that have covered on these issues include Business Insider, The Guardian, and The BBC.
The kind of content that’s caused the most controversy is the kind that has to do anything sexually suggestive or even explicit involving minors and children.There have been past issues that involved accounts showing unsuitable pictures of children. This is where it doesn’t matter a user’s age because anyone can potentially see it.
Any suspicious content involving minors and underage children overall, is easily a cause for significant concern.
Hypocrisy Is A Real Problem
It’s the responsibility of Meta to maintain Instagram with the rules, policies, and guidelines that are set in place.
Whenever that responsibility is not properly taken, it will leave an open window for potential issues to happen. Being consistent has its challenges but should still remain constant.Reasons can be due to possible incompetence, carelessness, poor planning, bugging in moderation systems, flaws in automated systems, or a combination of some if not all.
We also never really know what goes on behind the doors and walls of corporations and companies.This won’t stop users from letting their voices be heard because voices matter. So if there is an issue that arises, it will be heard.
What are your thoughts on Instagram? What have you seen that may have been questionable to you? What do you believe can be improved? What do you think should change? All comments are welcome to share. Thank you for reading!