Bodyguard can help protect you against toxic content that you come across on various social media platforms.
If you have a sizable social media following, there is always the chance that some of these followers are not fans but are actually there to troll or even bully you. In some instances, even legitimate fans can let out a stream of hate speech in your defense on the comment section of your profile or page. In such a case, getting a little help from a digital bodyguard would go a long way. Recently, a French startup called Bodyguard launched an English app and service that seeks to protect you from toxic content on various social media platforms.
Bodyguard is a mobile app that hides toxic content on social platforms https://t.co/YAq2VXQsmi via @TechCrunch #tech pic.twitter.com/T2VO6OT2uA — NoStar (@nonstellinarmi) January 21, 2021
The Bodyguard service has been available in French for the past several years now and amassed some 50,000 users so far. In an interview with a tech news outlet, Bodyguard's CEO and founder Charles Cohen said their technology can detect hate speech on the Internet. "We have developed a technology that detects hate speech on the internet with a 90% to 95% accuracy and only 2% of false positive," Cohen said.
Different Category Settings
According to Cohen, Bodyguard started as an app that anyone can use. After downloading and connecting the app with your preferred social network platforms, you can select the moderation level. Bodyguard features several categories that help protect you from different types of toxic content proliferating on your chosen social media platforms. These categories include moral harassment, insults, racism, sexual harassment, homophobia, and body shaming.
There is also an option to set Bodyguard's moderation level, whether you want the app to have a low priority level or a top priority level for a certain category. This way, you can teach Bodyguard which among these categories are harmful to you so it can better protect you against toxic content on your chosen social media platforms.
Supports Many Social Media Apps
Once you have made the settings on Bodyguard's available categories, you need not open the app again. Bodyguard will automatically scan comments and replies on social media for any hints of toxic content. It will also make its own decision whether something is okay or not. For example, it can hide hateful comments, or any comments the app deems derogatory to you, as well as also block or mute users. When you open your Twitter or Instagram, it would be like such toxic content did not exist at all.
At present, Bodyguard supports Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter. TikTok and Snapchat users may have to wait a bit longer for newer versions of Bodyguard as at the moment, it cannot process content on these platforms because of API limitations. Nevertheless, you can count on Bodyguard to protect you from toxic content on social media platforms like Twitter, where many users complain about the receiving end of hate speech and shaming.
