Russian social media giant debuts plan to stop offensive comments by prodding users not to ‘waste time on aggression’

The Russian social media network VKontakte has released an experimental function for its interface that aims to discourage users from posting offensive comments. The network’s press service announced the new feature on November 4.

With the new feature in place, every comment users write will be evaluated by an algorithm trained to recognize insults. If that test comes up positive, the user will see a message encouraging them “not to waste time on aggression” and “to avoid posting an offensive response.” VKontakte argued that such a strategy could protect young people from cyberbullying and decrease online expressions of racism.

The algorithm will go through a one-day soft launch, after which the company will evaluate its effectiveness before deciding whether to institute it permanently.