Instagram comment jail

I can’t pinpoint the exact moment, but at some point in the last few years, comment sections in apps, especially Instagram got gnarly. People are outright mean and say pretty horrible stuff to each other from their public-facing accounts. This isn’t new per se, as people have been saying awful stuff online for decades. It does feel like things have gotten nastier ever since the pandemic, though.

This got me thinking about people who regularly post on Instagram to an engaged following. You can block people or hide comments, but what if there were a way to punish people for their behavior visibly?

I can imagine a “comment jail” where people who say the wrong thing get put on hold from commenting based on the severity of their offense. Given how subjective the moderation for this could be, and Meta’s moderation issues to date, I’m not sure how this ever gets built, but this is one feature I would love to see out in the wild.

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