Instagram boss says ‘we can’t stop people from saying nasty things’

'Bullying is broader than just Instagram'

(Getty Images)

The head of Instagram has said the company can’t tackle the issue of online bullying on its own, as trolling continues to prove a problem for its users.

Speaking to BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat, Adam Mosseri explained that while he wants to protect Instagram’s users from getting “depressed”, the platform “can’t stop people from saying mean or nasty things sometimes”.

Mosseri continued: “Bullying has existed for a long time, it has changed and evolved with the internet​. Like many other issues, bullying is broader than just Instagram and I think that sometimes gets missed."

The Facebook-owned platform has been criticised in recent months after countless images of users self-harming appeared across the app.

In 2017, 14-year-old Molly Russell took her own life and after looking at the content she’d viewed on her Instagram account, Russell’s family members found material about depression and suicide.

Russell’s father, Ian, said he believes Instagram is partly responsible for his daughter’s death. Instagram responded by announcing that it prohibits content that “promotes or glorifies self-harm or suicide” and would remove content of this kind.

Addressing the criticisms, Mosseri explained that the posts breaking these rules that have the most likes and views will be removed faster.

The tech guru also responded to critical comments made by Selena Gomez, who recently revealed she’d deleted Instagram from her phone because it made her “look at [her] body differently” and made her feel insecure.

“She has over 100m followers, it’s a whole other world,” Mosseri said. “We need to make sure that creators like her are getting value out of the platform, that they don’t get depressed by the platform,” he says.

“But the tools that we need to develop for a 15-year-old boy or 14-year-old girl are very different.”

Mosseri added that he would love to speak to Gomez directly about improving her Instagram experience.

“If there’s something specific that she thinks is working or not working about the platform, I’d love to hear. We like the criticism, we like to have the conversation.”