Instagram Reportedly Fact-Checking Photoshopped Images On Its Platform

Instagram is a platform where users share photos. It is also where photographers and other creatives use it as a medium where they can showcase their portfolio to prospective clients. However, it seems that it could soon get a lot trickier for some to use the platform in that manner.

According to the original report, photographer Toby Harriman discovered that while scrolling through his Instagram feed, a “False Information” warning popped up. It was an image of a man standing on rainbow-colored mountains which clearly had been photoshopped and manipulated.

While we can appreciate how seriously Facebook and Instagram takes fake news these days, the art of photo manipulation isn’t new and when done right, it can be downright impressive. For Instagram’s algorithms to consider such images to be “fake news” doesn’t seem like a very appropriate label, and could hinder artists from showcasing their work to prospective clients.

Facebook has since responded to the report in a statement that reads, “We don’t hide content because it’s photoshopped, we apply a label when a fact-checker has rated it. Upon review from the fact checker, they changed the rating, so it is no longer being labelled as false on Instagram and Facebook.” It does seem like extra work, but perhaps the algorithm could be fine tuned to better distinguish between works of art and photos that have been clearly manipulated to send the wrong message.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook, Instagram