Instagram BANS cosmetic surgery filters which mimic botox or lip fillers to protect users’ mental health because ‘body image is important’
- The filters could be made by users and shared in the app’s ‘story’ section
- But Instagram is cracking down on them, saying it’s to protect mental health
- Filters could be created to make people look as though they’d had facelifts
Instagram is banning photo filters which make people look like they’ve had cosmetic surgery.
Filters which boost the size of people’s lips or mimic facelifts will no longer be allowed on the app.
The company said it wanted filters to be a ‘positive experience’ and that it was making the move to protect users’ mental health.
It comes just months after the Facebook-owned app launched a tool in August which allowed people to share their own superimposed effects in the app’s ‘story’ function.
Scrolling along to the far right of the face filters, people could look in the ‘Browse effects’ section and find those created by other users, among them ones which augmented the person’s face to look like they’d had surgery.
Instagram’s head of product, Vishal Shah, said: ‘I think that body image is a really important topic, broadly speaking, not just on Instagram, and this is something that we are taking really seriously’
Some of the augmented reality filters transformed images to make it appear as though the person was undergoing a facelift, with lines drawn across their face, while others depicted fillers and lip injections.
Instagram said any related effects submitted to its Spark AR Hub will no longer be approved and current filters being reported will also be taken down.
‘We’re re-evaluating our policies – we want filters to be a positive experience for people,’ a spokesman said.
Senior Instagram executives told MPs in May that the firm would pay closer attention to appearance-changing photo filters over concerns about the impact they may have on people’s body image.
The filters in question make people look as though they’ve had cosmetic surgery but Instagram has raised concerns about them being bad for people’s mental health
Instagram has announced it will stop people being able to share filters which make them look like they’ve had plastic surgery in the ‘story’ function of the app (stock image)
The company’s head of product, Vishal Shah, said: ‘I think that body image is a really important topic, broadly speaking, not just on Instagram, and this is something that we are taking really seriously, especially in some of the research we are doing.’
The social network has been under increased scrutiny following a number self-harm incidents, notably Molly Russell.
Molly was a 14-year-old who took her own life in November 2017 after viewing disturbing material online.
Her family believe harmful content on social media was a contributory factor after finding material relating to depression and suicide on her accounts, and have called for tech firms to be held to account.
WHAT IS INSTAGRAM DOING TO CRACK DOWN ON FAKE ACCOUNTS?
Instagram has launched a crackdown on fake accounts, introducing a new feature showing users information about who is really behind a username.
The Photo-sharing app’ more than 1 billion users will now be able to evaluate the authenticity of accounts, weeks after parent Facebook rolled out similar measures in a bid to weed out fake accounts on its social media platform.
The ‘About This Account’ feature will allow users to see the advertisements an account is running, the country where the account is located, username changes in the past year as well as other details.
To learn more about an account, go to their Profile, tap the … menu and then select ‘About This Account.’
There, you will see the date the account joined Instagram, the country where the account is located, accounts with shared followers, any username changes in the last year and any ads the account is currently running.
Instagram also plans to significantly boost the number of verified accounts for public figures, celebrities, and global brands.
Along with the account username, applicants will need to provide full real names and a copy of legal or business identification.
Instagram also said it will allow the use of third-party apps such as DUO Mobile and Google Authenticator for two-factor authentication to help users securely log in to their accounts.
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