Instagram on Tuesday announced a slew of new capabilities to combat misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, along with a co-watching feature that helps users feel less isolated while sheltering at home.
Efforts to clamp down on misinformation include the following:
  • Removing COVID-19 accounts from recommendations unless they are posted by a credible health organization;
  • Downranking feed and Stories content that third-party checkers have flagged as false;
  • Removing false posts from Explore and hashtag pages and false claims or conspiracy theories that could cause harm;
  • Prohibiting misleading ads for products referring to COVID-19;
  • Temporarily banning ads and branded content promoting certain medical supplies including face masks;
  • Adding stickers to promote accurate information; and
  • Including more educational resources in Instagram Search.
Additionally, Instagram has created a shared story to help make social distancing more bearable, through a "Stay Home" sticker, and it launched the co-watching capability it began testing last year.

Wrangling Facts

"We work with third-party fact-checkers, who rate content across Facebook (Instagram's parent company) and Instagram," a Facebook spokesperson said, in a response company rep Raki Wane provided to TechNewsWorld.
Instagram applies a label to content deemed false or partially false, and adds a link to a fact-check explaining why the information may be incorrect, the spokesperson said.
Instagram has not set a time limit on its temporary ban on ads and branded content because of "the evolving timeline of this health emergency," the spokesperson noted.
The new stickers, which include reminders to users to wash their hands and distance themselves from others, will be available over the next few days.
A search for information relating to coronavirus or COVID-19 will trigger a message connecting searchers to resources from the World Health Organization and local health agencies. It will be available globally in the coming weeks.

Assessing Instagram's Effort

"This is an incredibly positive and much needed move by Instagram," remarked Liz Miller, principal analyst at Constellation Research. "It not only addresses issues around misinformation and fraudsters looking to prey on chaos, but it also does more to better connect people who may feel more socially isolated than distant."
Instagram "is uniquely positioned to give people an outlet -- one where they can connect with friends and family, and see the positive stories out there to add a bit of sunshine," she told TechNewsWorld.
That said, Instagram will have to decide whether misinformation is an issue only at the apex of a crisis, Miller noted.
If it decides misinformation is a problem only during a crisis, Instagram will "need to define what a crisis is, who calls it, what experts get pulled onto the assessment and response team -- and communicate this intention now," she said.
"This effort is pretty impressive if they execute to plan," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
"If they can, Instagram has set the new bar for what can and should be done with social media," he told TechNewsWorld.

Instagram's Co-Watching Capability



Instagram's co-sharing feature lets users view Instagram posts with their friends over video chat.