Instagram launches anti-bullying tools to mark 10th birthday

Instagram will give users the chance to back away from making a harmful comment

Credit: Instagram/Instagram

"Through all these changes, our community will remain the heart of Instagram, and we’ll stay focused on keeping people safe and building new features that fight bullying, improve equity, address fairness, and help people feel supported."

The social media giant was created in 2010 by Mike Kreiger and Kevin Systrom before being contentiously sold to Facebook for what now looks like a bargain price of $1bn (£760m). On Tuesday, the company reintroduced its classic icons to mark the app’s 10th birthday.

Systrom and Kreiger’s app has become incredibly popular since its foundation with around 1 billion users on the platform worldwide. The app has become a crucial crutch to Facebook, driving a huge revenue growth through its advertising and ecommerce offerings.

In 2018, the Pew Research Centre in the US found the vast majority of teens used Instagram. The centre found that 59pc of Gen Z had been bullied online in some form, with as many as a fifth citing Instagram as the location. The app has been criticised for worsening anxiety among teens and developing higher levels of body confidence issues.

Jessica Swainston, in-house psychologist at safeguarding app Wing, has outlined a range of measures to help teens manage Instagram better. Among them she encouraged teens to turn off all push notifications, keep the phone out of the bedroom, and set allocated screen times.