MANILA, Philippines – Instagram on Tuesday, September 26 launched some new features designed to make the service more pleasant to use.

In a blog post commemorating the growth of its user base to 800 million, Instagram said it was introducing the ability to choose who can comment on a user’s public posts.

Public accounts can choose who can comment on posts, whether it’s everyone, groups of people, people you follow, or your account’s followers. Users can now also block accounts from posting comments on your content. 

Instagram is also rolling out new languages as part of its comment filtering system. Previously available only in English, the filters now support Arabic, French, German, and Portuguese.

Anonymous reporting, kindness wall

Two additional features were also announced in their post.

The first additional feature allows users to anonymously report live video if they fear for the mental health of a user posting live.

Said the announcement, “If you see someone going through a difficult time or in need of support during a live broadcast, you can report it anonymously. The person will see a message offering help with options to talk to a helpline, reach out to a friend or get other tips and support.”

Instagram said it had people working “24 hours a day, 7 days a week, around the world” for this new feature.

The company is also running a new initiative called #KindComments, where Instagram users are invited to take pictures on community-made murals and share kind comments to help keep people’s spirits up. 

New heart-shaped kindness stickers will also be available for this purpose. – Rappler.com