Meta has recently introduced warning screens and labels to appear on certain pictures and videos posted via Facebook and Instagram. These labels are applied when the content that’s being uploaded falls under the category of ‘disturbing’ or ‘sensitive’. Already noticing the aforementioned labels? Then the tweak has already been made available for you.’
With the launch of these controversial warning labels, the team behind the big F and I have already received over 3 million appeals from their users demanding to ‘unlock’ their content.
In addition to the system-imposed labels, Instagram users can now limit the amount of potentially sensitive content the platform may display. This grants them streamlined control over their Instagram experience. Similar changes have also been made within the flagship Facebook application.
Overall, the company is now a lot more serious about protecting its users from hacks, as well as from accessing content that is inappropriate for them. Because the levels of content appropriateness vary from one user to another, the possibility to determine the most suitable content sensitivity degree in your case comes with lots of flexibility and convenience.
At the end of the day, while the ability to manually adjust content based on the amount of ‘disturbance’ you can take on a daily basis is fair and logical, the warning labels tool comes with a somewhat double-standard-to-cynical flair. That became especially clear when important media content documenting Russia’s attack on Ukraine was automatically labeled ‘sensitive’ on Instagram instead of being justifyingly exposed to the whole wide world. Feel free to comment below if you have any thoughts on the topic. We value your feedback greatly.