Instagram has grown from 700 million total users in April 2017 to 800 million, as confirmed by parent company Facebook during an event in New York City this week (via CNBC). Of those 800 million total users, 500 million are opening the app and using it every day, compared favorably to Snapchat's 173 million DAUs that the Instagram rival reported earlier in August.
As it celebrates this milestone, Instagram today announced a few new community-focused comment moderation features rolling out to public and private accounts, building upon the "safer and kinder" message that's been the focus of Instagram updates over the past year. Now, whether your account is public or private, you'll be able to block any other account from commenting on your posts.
For public-only accounts, you'll have more granular options for choosing who can comment on your post: everyone, people you follow and your followers, people you follow, or just your followers. The company is also expanding languages that support its filter to block certain offensive comments -- in addition to English there will be support for Arabic, French, German, and Portugese.
Other safety-centric additions include anonymously providing mental health resources to someone on an Instagram live broadcast, and a new #KindComments campaign that includes real-life murals in various cities around the world, along with new stickers available in the app. The company has accumulated all of these features and messages into a website called Instagram Together.
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