![Instagram Digs into its Algorithm and Policies for Bias Against Black Users](https://i0.wp.com/techtrendske.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/instagram-app-logo.png?fit=600%2C337&ssl=1)
In the wake of racial inequality protests going on in the US and other parts of the world, tech companies have had a major role to play. Instagram is also taking a big leap to elevate Black voices. It wants to dig deeper into the platform to root out any biasness against black users.
Instagramās top executive, Adam Mosseri, revealed the development yesterday in a blog post.
āThe irony that weāre a platform that stands for elevating Black voices, but at the same time Black people are often harassed, afraid of being āshadowbannedā, and disagree with many content takedowns, is not lost on me,ā wrote Mosseri.
The platform is going to take āa harder lookā at how it impacts communities differently on four different aspects; Harassment, Account verification, Content distribution, and Algorithmic bias.
To deal with harassment on the platform, Instagram will review āspecific safety issuesā black users face both on and off Instagram.
On account verification, Instagram plans to review the verification criteria to ensure its inclusive as possible.
The distribution will touch on how content placed in the Explore and Hashtag pages is filtered. And whether the algorithms might be biased in some way or the other. This is specifically a major issue and has been raised in the past concerning āshadowbanningā where it is believed that the algorithm filters some people without transparency thus limiting their postsā reach.
ā…we need to be clearer about how decisions are made when it comes to how peopleās posts get distributed,ā Mosseri wrote.
Besides that, the company will also consider how they can better serve other underrepresented groups on the platform.
Instagramās head says they will provide an update āover the next few months.ā
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