social media

FTC and Justice Department sue TikTok over alleged child privacy violations

Government & Policy /

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department are suing TikTok and ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, with violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a law that requires digital platforms to notify and obtain parents’ consent before collecting and using personal data from children under the age of 13. In a press […]

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Inspired by Gen Z, Pinterest users can now turn boards into videos for sharing on Instagram and TikTok

Apps /

Pinterest is reimagining its app for the TikTok era. Catering to Gen Z’s demand for video-focused features, the company on Tuesday announced it will now allow users to create short videos of their curated Pinterest boards, designed to be shared on social media. The new addition was inspired by the video-sharing activity that was already

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X still has a Verified bot problem — this time they came for TechCrunch writers

Social /

This week while scrolling on X, formerly Twitter, I noticed that I had reposted a series of TechCrunch articles. Except, wait, no, I hadn’t.  But someone else using my name had. I clicked on the profile, and there was another Rebecca Bellan, using the same default and header photos as my actual profile: me onstage

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Former Snap engineer launches Butterflies, a social network where AIs and humans coexist

AI /

Butterflies is a social network where humans and AIs interact with each other through posts, comments and DMs. After five months in beta, the app is launching Tuesday to the public on iOS and Android.  Anyone can create an AI persona, called a Butterfly, in minutes on the app. After that, the Butterfly automatically creates

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Scarlett Johansson brought receipts to the OpenAI controversy

Social /

Welcome back to TechCrunch’s Week in Review — TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the week’s biggest news. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. OpenAI announced this week that it’s removing Sky, one of the voices used by its new GPT-4o model, after users found it sounded eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson’s AI character

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X should bring back stars, not hide ‘likes’

Apps /

Elon Musk’s X is preparing to make “likes” private on the social network, in a change that could potentially confuse users over the difference between something they’ve favorited and something they’ve bookmarked. According to new posts by company employees, the decision to hide “likes” is meant to incentivize engagement, by allowing people to favorite content

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