INSTA TAKES ANTI-CRUELTY STAND
So-called selfie safaris — in which tourists take photos of themselves holding wild animals — are a rising trend. The trouble is, they may come about with quite a bit of behindthe-scenes cruelty to the animals. Now Instagram is doing something about that, with a campaign to raise awareness through the monitoring of hashtags.
A new feature on the photo-sharing app identifies hashtags that could be associated with worrying animal practices.
When such searches are made, this triggers an alert and a pop-up message that reads: “Animal abuse and the sale of endangered animals or their parts is not allowed on Instagram.
“You are searching for a hashtag that may be associated with posts that encourage harmful behaviour to animals or the environment.”
Users can then click to a page that offers more information about wildlife exploitation.
The move comes after investigations by National Geographic and World Animal Protection found a worrying trend in the rise of wildlife tourism in the Amazon. Animals are being captured from the rainforest, kept in cages, and hauled out for unwitting tourists to hold.
The list of flagged tags — including #koalaselfie, #lionselfie and #tigerpet — number in the hundreds, in English and in the local languages of countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, where illicit wildlife practices have become endemic.
Instagram will also flag more obvious offences, such as searches for #exoticanimalforsale.
Spokesperson Emily Cain said it was important for the Instagram community to be more aware.
“We’re trying to do our part to educate them.”
Instagram developed its list of worrying hashtags over several months, gathering input from several animal rights organisations for the terms most likely to be associated with worrying behaviour.