Instagram Is Banning Searches For COVID-19 AR Effects

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Instagram is further controlling content related to COVID-19 by banning searches for AR effects related to the virus.

Since the COVID-19 epidemic began – now a pandemic – Instagram has been actively working to keep its community of users informed and safe. Earlier this month, it started a variety of activities, like removing “harmful misinformation” and redirecting users to resources from the World Health Organization and the CDC.

Now, Instagram is expanding its efforts by banning searches related to COVID-19 AR effects, which saw a considerable increase over the last few weeks.

There have been concerns, lately, that some of the filters (out of hundreds) are spreading misinformation and panic. Therefore, Instagram decided to control searches for such filters and instead try “to better connect people with credible health information.”

Coronavirus-themed AR filters flood Instagram https://t.co/wFZFuEigMH pic.twitter.com/hnCoEg2PoW
— Rouut (@rouutnews) March 9, 2020

Instagram is working to provide users with better and more credible health information about COVID-19, so it’s banning searches for related AR effects.

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To help people get relevant and up-to-date resources, we will start showing more information from @WHO and local health ministries at the top of Instagram’s Feed in some countries. pic.twitter.com/czAHYItlEx
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) March 13, 2020

Whether or not many AR filters were spreading misinformation or not, is a big question, but it was certainly becoming difficult for Instagram to control what was getting out there. With an explosion in related filters in the last two months or so, many of them have been distasteful, to say the least.