Instagram Under Investigation Over Allegations Of Suppression Of Black Voices

There are concerns that social media platform Instagram may be suppressing black voices, and that has led to an internal investigation.

A recent report reveals that a blog has been published to address the possibility of the platform suppressing black voices, and Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, had this to say:

Hearing concern about whether we suppress Black voices and whether our products and policies treat everyone equally. The irony that we’re a platform that stands for elevating Black voices, but at the same time Black people are often harassed, afraid of being ‘shadowbanned’, and disagree with many content takedowns, is not lost on me. This is a moment when people around the world are rightfully demanding actions over words, and we owe the same to our community.”

Mosseri added that the platform plans to take a harder look at how their product impacts communities differently. They will look into the issues of harassment and account verification to ensure that it is as inclusive as possible.

The platform will also scrutinize distribution (how content is filtered on Explore and Hashtag pages to understand where there may be vulnerability to bias) and algorithm bias.

Concluding, Mosseri stated:

Our goal is that Instagram is a place where everyone feels safe, supported, and free to express themselves, and I’m hoping this work will get us closer to that goal.”