The European Union (EU) is looking into whether Elon Musk’s online platform X breached tough new social media regulations in the first such investigation since the rules designed to make online content less toxic took effect. “Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X” under the Digital Services Act (DSA), European Commissioner Thierry Breton said […]
Archive | social media
Meta’s Threads app expands into Europe
Threads, the Meta app designed to take on Elon Musk’s X, is now rolling out in European Union countries for the first time. When the social media app first launched in July, it was only to a handful of countries including the US and the UK. Linked to a user’s Instagram profile, the app enables […]
Meta and TikTok explain response to Dublin riots and misinformation
Social media companies have explained their reaction to the Dublin riots that resulted in millions of euro worth of damage to public infrastructure. Tanaiste Micheal Martin said in the aftermath of the riots that he was concerned at the “rapid mobilisation of so many people via social media platforms”. Dublin-headquartered companies Meta, TikTok and Google […]
Meta begins end-to-end encryption rollout
Meta has begun its rollout of automatic encryption of all Facebook and Messenger chats, the company has announced. Messages and calls protected by end-to-end-encryption (E2EE), which has been an option since 2016, can be read only by the sender and recipient. Under the changes, Meta will no longer have access to the contents of what […]
Spotify to axe 1,500 jobs to cut costs
Spotify is to cut almost a fifth of jobs at the music streaming business in a move affecting about 1,500 posts. Bosses at the technology firm said in a note to staff that it will axe 17% of the workforce in a bid to be more efficient in the face of a growth slowdown. The […]
Fake Facebook accounts shut down by Meta were ‘primed to polarise voters’
Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarising political content in an apparent effort to divide the US before next year’s elections, Meta has said. The network of nearly 4,800 fake accounts was trying to build an audience when it […]
Meta ‘knowingly designed its platforms to hook children’, court document claims
Facebook parent Meta Platforms deliberately engineered its social platforms to hook minors and knew – but never disclosed – it had received millions of complaints about under-age users on Instagram but only disabled a fraction of those accounts, according to reports. The complaint emerged in a newly unsealed legal document, described in reports by The […]
X (aka Twitter) sues media watchdog over report on ads next to posts from hate groups
Elon Musk’s social media company X has filed a lawsuit against liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America, saying it manufactured a report to show advertisers’ posts alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist posts in order to “drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.” Media Matters, a Washington DC-based non-profit media watchdog, called the […]
Apple to adopt system to improve texting between iPhones and Android devices
Apple is to adopt a messaging standard that will make texting between an iPhone and an Android device a better experience. The US technology giant has confirmed it will adopt the rich communication services (RCS) “later next year”. RCS is considered an industry standard for messaging and allows users to send and receive high-quality photos […]
TikTok launches feature to save songs to music apps like Spotify
TikTok has launched a feature to make it easier for users to save viral songs to music apps like Spotify and Apple Music. The “add to music app” feature will be rolled out in the UK and US over the coming weeks. It will enable users to save songs they discover on the video platform […]