Social

Bluesky at a crossroads as users petition to ban Jesse Singal over anti-trans views, harassment

Now with 25 million users, Bluesky is facing a test that will determine whether or not its platform will still be seen as a safe space and place of refuge from the toxicity of X. In recent days, a large number of users on Bluesky have been urging the company to ban one newcomer for

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Controversial EU ad campaign on X broke bloc’s own privacy rules

The European Union’s executive body is facing an embarrassing privacy scandal after it was confirmed on Friday that a Commission ad campaign on X (formerly Twitter) breached the EU’s own data protection rules. The finding, by the EU’s oversight body the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), relates to a microtargeted ad campaign that the Commission

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Threads rolls out its own version of Bluesky’s ‘Starter Packs’

Meta’s Threads is rolling out its own take on Bluesky’s “Starter Packs,” which are curated lists of suggested accounts that help new users find people to follow. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced on Thursday that the social network is testing a way for users to find and easily follow collections of profiles that post about

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Tumblr launches its interest-focused Communities out of beta

A year after initial tests began, the web blogging site Tumblr, now owned by WordPress.com parent Automattic, is launching its Communities feature out of beta. Communities offer semi-private spaces on Tumblr where people can network around topics of interest, similar to Reddit’s forums known as subreddits or X’s Communities. The Communities feature first entered public

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After Meta signals end to publisher payouts, Australia plots Big Tech news tax

A few years ago, Australia passed legislation requiring platform giants including Facebook-owner Meta and YouTube’s parent Google to negotiate with news publishers to pay for journalism reshares. The News Media Bargaining Code forced Big Tech to cut deals with local news outlets. However, Meta has since moved away from promoting news on its platforms globally

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Snapchat+ subscribers can now keep messages in a chat for a week

Snapchat is rolling out a few new features for Snapchat+ subscribers for the holiday season, the company announced on Wednesday. The features include expanded chat options, new app themes, and more. Subscribers now have the option to save their conversations for seven days instead of having them disappear after 24 hours. Snap says this feature

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Phhhoto’s antitrust claim against Meta is heading back to the courts

A U.S. appeals court has overturned a decision in an antitrust lawsuit against Meta, which was filed in in late 2021 by the long-shuttered social app Phhhoto. In court, the startup alleged that Meta violated U.S. antitrust law by copying its core features and suppressing competition. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in 2023 granted Meta’s

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