In a recent announcement, Facebook-owned photo-sharing service Instagram has revealed that it is rolling out a new tool which will enable users to fight online harassment at the widely-used mobile app for sharing pictures and videos.

The new anti-harassment tool released by Instagram will essentially give users the ability to filter the comments on their posts. As such, with the help of the tool, users will be able to moderate comment threads.

The new tool has already been made available by Instagram, as a test, to some celebrities and a few other Instagram users who have accounts that attract hordes of comments. The success of the testing of the new tool will pave the way for its wider rollout to more users in the coming weeks.

Instagram users -- with “high volume comment threads” -- who now have access to the new anti-harassment tool can filter the comments on their posts by specific keywords or even by turning off the option to comment on particular posts.

About the new anti-harassment tool, an Instagram spokesperson said that the tool enables users to use a filter designed for blocking profanity or even delete comments completely; and added that the objective behind the new tool is to ensure that the Instagram platform is “a friendly, fun and, most importantly, safe place for self-expression.”