Instagram has announced that it will continue to combat harassment on the site with a new anti-harassment tool called Limits.

TechCrunch is reporting that Limits will give users the option to “lockdown” their accounts when they’re being flooded with harassing comments. The social media giant says that they were inspired to test out this new feature in the wake of the Euro 2020 final, when the Black soccer players on England’s team were subjected to a flurry of racist abuse in the wake of their team’s loss to Italy.

“Maybe you’re in high school and you are going through a breakup or you just switched schools. Or maybe you are a professional footballer and you’re receiving a lot of harassment,” said Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, in a statement to TechCrunch, when asked how Limits could be useful in different situations. “Whatever it is, we know that people sometimes are in temporary moments of real risk of pain, and we want to give them tools to protect themselves in those situations.”

Mosseri also said that there are several front-facing tools that Instagram users can continue to use to combat harassment, including the Block and Restrict buttons. Finally, Mosseri confirmed that this feature would be available to those who are subjected to severe abuse.

Earlier this month, consultant Matt Navarra shared a preview of how Instagram Limits worked on his Twitter page. The company hadn’t yet announced that it was rolling out the feature.

Instagram has a NEW ‘Limits’ feature to help you manage harassment from groups of people

– Instagram will recommend groups of accounts you may want to limit comments and messages from

– Limited comments and messages will be hidden unless you approve them

H/T @ahmedghanem pic.twitter.com/7aYsVUWhNw

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) July 8, 2021

Here’s a few more screenshots of Instagram’s ‘Limits’ features pic.twitter.com/ssR7VmpG7m

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) July 8, 2021

With Limits, users can restrict interactions for days or even weeks, depending on the severity of the abuse. And though it’s not available app-wide, as of yet, the feature is currently being tested out with selected accounts. It remains unclear, however, when the app will roll out the feature on a mass scale, or when it will be available to everyone.

Euro 2020

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