As soon as I came across this article, I thought about our conversation in class on social media. For better or worse, social media has taken the world by storm. Individuals have the ability to communicate in their own private world with like-minded people, creating endless opportunities. These opportunities, however, are not always positive. The freedom of social media allows users to exert negative influences such as online bullying. Instagram is looking to put a stop towards online bullying through its use of artificial intelligence.
Online bullying is not a new concept, as it has seriously affected individuals since the origin of social media. Instagram is introducing a machine learning technology that can detect bullying in both photos and comments that are sent to the Community Operations team to review. Users now have the option to delete or report these negative comments. This can be quite a overwhelming task as some of these social media platforms have millions of users. Fiona Brown, who works on communications for Instagram, details the use of artificial intelligence in this endeavor. She explains, “An example of a bullying tactic that the photo technology detects is comparing, ranking and rating images and captions, such as split-screen images where a person is compared to another person in a negative way.” Instagram plans to launch this new feature in October, which is also National Bullying Prevention month.
It is also important to note that once you put something on the internet it is permanent. Putting out hate comments on social media can have long-term effects such as job opportunities. As discussed in class, it is important to show empathy to other users on social media. If you see their world, appreciate them as human beings, communicate understanding, and understand their feelings then there should be no reason for online bullying. The intersection between empathy and artificial intelligence is what Instagram and many other social media platforms are striving for. It is personally fascinating to see the broad usage of artificial intelligence in aspects such as social media, sports, transportation, entertainment, and more.
References:
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/instagram-use-artificial-intelligence-detect-bullying-photos-n918291
I think this article is relevant to people’s daily life with social media because cyberbullying is becoming a big issue with the development of social media. Melanie Ehrenkranz said that study of anti-bullying non-profit Ditch the Label last year found that seven percent among 10,000 respondents aged 12 to 20 said they had been bullied on Instagram and Instagram is listed as the number one social network for cyberbullying. I saw a teenagers facing Instagram bullying three years ago. I felt it is impenetrable to have such a behavior for a teenager and I couldn’t imagine what the behavior will affect that teenager. I think it’s significant for social media platforms to address this issue. According to Instagram’s new lead Adam Mosseri, “While the majority of photos shared on Instagram are positive and bring people joy, occasionally a photo is shared that is unkind or unwelcome,” “We are now using machine learning technology to proactively detect bullying in photos and their captions and send them to our Community Operations team to review.” And as you mentioned, it is a good idea for the Community Operations team to review both photos and comments as a way to minimize the bullying. It provides a safe environment for users and especially for the younger generation. This is because the younger generation is more likely to experience bullying online. Also, Instagram adds a new feature called “Kindness Camera Effect” with the purpose of spreading positivity which is very interesting and benefit users a lot. Although I don’t think machine learning can completely eliminate cyberbullying, I believe it can reduce the cyberbullying. And as a user of social media, what we can do is that we can be kind to other people and we can stop the person who is bullying others on the social media.
https://gizmodo.com/instagram-will-use-machine-learning-to-help-tackle-cybe-1829623868
https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/instagram-new-anti-bullying-features-ai-detect-abuse/
I like the idea of having artificial intelligence keep track of online bullying. It’s easy for people to do it because they can do it from their home and can do it to pretty much anyone. Using artificial intelligence would make monitoring more detail oriented and thurough. Right now, it is up to the users to report content or accounts. Besides the report option, there is also a block and mute option. These are also helpful resources to help with individual situations. I think the artificial intelligence that Instagram wants to use is most important because it can even find photos and not just sort through comments. If Instagram would go as far as tracking when others use a persons photo. Facebook has this in place already, notifying you when a picture of yourself is posted. If this was also implemented on Instagram, it could also help with cat-fishing and misrepresentation of a person.
Cyberbullying is a very important issue, it is reported that 87% of youths have witnessed cyberbullying. In this link, it discusses how artificial intelligence protects against bullying
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/client-voices/ai-technology-protect-teens-cyberbullying/
I feel like this article is very relevant and important to today’s internet society. I feel that social media is almost a perfect outlet for someone to get bullied on because it can not only be anonymous, but can allow someone to say a hateful comment without ever confronting that individual. A lot of the time, cyber bullies are insecure and not brave enough to confront a person about an issue to their face, so they use social media as a platform to do this.
Community Operations team really should do whatever they can to make social media a fun space where people do not have to worry about being hurt. The automatic erasing of negative comments or posts is good way to solve an issue like this, because it can allow a negative comment to be terminated before it is even read by the user. There is also a setting on Instagram where users can turn off comment settings so people cannot even have the option to reply to their post. I feel that is also a good solution because if someone wants to post something, they are guaranteed to get no negative feedback.
With all of this in mind, social media is a two way street and users should as aware of what they are posting as they are what they are commenting. For example, if a girl posts a negative picture, she should not be surprised when she gets negative comments back. But even if someone posts something that someone else does not like, it shouldn’t be acceptable to have these negative comments. If a negative comment is posted, that site immediately taking it down could save a lot of upset people who are just trying to share a photo that they enjoy.
Overall the community as a whole needs to work on saving negative comments about others, so people in society can have better self confidence. Society is more self conscious and concerned with the opinions of others more than ever, and social media is totally to blame. If the cyber bullying was more heavily controlled, society could give off a more confident and accepting energy.
https://cyberbullying.org/cyberbullying-on-instagram
Love this article! I think it’s great when social media platforms are used to make a difference. I definitely witnessed a ton of online bullying when I was younger and although I think it has lessened in general since then, it still remains a problem in our society and is a bad form of hurting others. Like you mentioned, I think it’s important for the Community Operations team to make the right judgment calls and take down wrongful posts or comments that negatively impact others in a severe way. Just as important, I am glad that users can have the option to also report something if they deem it necessary. I am glad that online bullying is being taken more seriously because it should not be tolerated. I’ve specifically noticed how many celebrities get harassing comments on their Instagrams and such and it’s disheartening to see how much hate is out there and how not much can be done for someone that famous, when this is a common occurrence for them. I loved learning about the Brown professor who is using artificial intelligence to make a difference when it comes to this matter and am glad technology is being used for the greater good. At the end of the day, we just need to work on being better people and more thoughtful and considerate. Social media platforms should not be used as a crutch for insults. According to this study in this article, Instagram is proven to be the worst social media network for cyber bullying: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/instagram-worst-social-network-cyber-bullying-study-article-1.3339477