Instagram Investigating If Platform Suppresses Black Voices

A blog post on Instagram has been published to address if the platform is suppressing black voices.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, posted that he is “hearing concern about whether we suppress Black voices and whether our products and policies treat everyone equally. The irony that we’re a platform that stands for elevating Black voices, but at the same time Black people are often harassed, afraid of being ‘shadowbanned’, and disagree with many content takedowns, is not lost on me. This is a moment when people around the world are rightfully demanding actions over words, and we owe the same to our community.”

Adam added that the platform plans to take “a harder look at how our product impacts communities differently.” Specifically, they are going to look into harassment, account verification to “ensure it’s as inclusive as possible,” distribution (which is “how content is filtered on Explore and Hashtag pages to understand where there may be vulnerability to bias”), and algorithmic bias.

He concluded with, “Our goal is that Instagram is a place where everyone feels safe, supported, and free to express themselves, and I’m hoping this work will get us closer to that goal.”

Instagram is always adding new features, and a few months ago, took a stance on bullying on the app.