Category: Social

WhatsApp Channels — the Meta-owned messaging service’s latest feature aimed at increasing engagement on the platform — is rolling out to users in India and several other countries. Designed as a one-way broadcast tool, these channels allow users to share updates with a large number of users on WhatsApp. At the moment, users can search […]

WhatsApp has been reportedly spotted working on a new feature that will allow for chat interoperability. The Meta-owned messaging service appears to be working on the ability to communicate with users who are not on WhatsApp. The European Union recently passed the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that goes into effect in the first quarter of […]

YouTube is currently testing a new feature that highlights the ‘Subscribe’ button anytime the word ‘subscribe’ appears in a video. The experimental update was spotted across a wide range of content, therefore it seems that the platform itself has fully automated the procedure. Recently the video streaming platform has also been said to be testing […]

Social media app maker Snap on Thursday said it will roll out in-app warnings and other safeguards globally to offer enhanced protection to users between the age group of 13-17 years against online risks.  The safeguards will enable safer communications and search, and show teenage users age-appropriate content. It will also launch a new Strike […]

The UK acknowledged possible technical hurdles in its planned crackdown on illegal online content after encrypted messaging companies including WhatsApp threatened to pull their service from the country. Regulator Ofcom can only compel tech companies to scan platforms for illegal content such as images of child sexual abuse if it’s “technically feasible,” culture minister Stephen […]

The European Union has picked out 22 so-called “gatekeeper” services, run by six of the biggest tech companies in the world, to face new rules as part of its latest crackdown on Big Tech. The wide-ranging Digital Markets Act (DMA) will apply to services from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance. Seen […]

Elon Musk withdrew a loan of $1 billion (roughly Rs. 83,062 crore) from SpaceX – the two-decade-old rocket company run by the billionaire – around the same time he was acquiring Twitter, now known as X, for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,65,442 crore), the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. SpaceX approved the $1 billion (roughly […]

Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it will discontinue the “Facebook News” feature on its social media app in the UK, France and Germany, later this year. Users will still be able to view links to news articles and European news publishers will continue to have access to their Facebook accounts and pages after the change […]

Meta sees India as a “priority market” with “limitless” possibilities buoyed by macroeconomic growth, digital infrastructure and the popularity of its apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, the social media giant’s India head Sandhya Devanathan said.  In an interview with PTI, Devanathan, who took over the leadership role in January this year, said India’s new […]

Meta launched Reels on Instagram back in 2020 as its answer to the popular short-video app TikTok. Instagram Reels allow users to create videos of up to 60 seconds in length and they are featured on the Instagram Explore Page. These TikTok-inspired short videos have become Meta’s fastest-growing content format by far and lets creators […]

WhatsApp may soon allow users to access two accounts from a single phone. The app has reportedly been spotted testing the multi-account feature for Android phones. Usually, the social media platform also releases the iOS version of the feature close to one another. WhatsApp has been rolling out new features to its user base, most […]

WhatsApp has been spotted rolling out a new toggle for the recently introduced instant video message feature. The messaging platform added the ability to record and send real-time video messages last month. The feature, which allows users to send a short video of up to 60 seconds, is enabled by default in the app’s settings. […]

Meta Platforms is considering paid versions of Facebook and Instagram with no advertisements for users residing in the European Union (EU) as a response to scrutiny from regulators, the New York Times reported on Friday. Those who pay for the subscriptions would not see ads while Meta would also continue to offer free versions of […]

Canada on Friday unveiled draft rules for a law designed to compel Alphabet‘s Google and Meta Platforms pay news outlets, saying Ottawa was addressing the companies’ concerns that they may be facing an uncapped liability. Canada’s Online News Act, part of a global trend to make Internet giants pay for news, became law in June and […]

WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new interface for its Android app. The design tweak by the Meta-owned instant messaging app brings enhancements to the top app bar and UI elements, as per a report. In the new design, the top bar is shown in white colour, with other UI elements seen in green colour. […]

Apple will reportedly stop providing human assistance to users on social media platforms X (formerly known as Twitter) and YouTube. A recent report has claimed that the Apple chat-based support service will be dropped in October. The Apple Support account on X will stop sending human replies to support requests via direct messages. In addition […]

A California federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing X, the social media service formerly called Twitter, of disproportionately laying off older workers when Elon Musk acquired the company last year. US District Judge Susan Illston on Tuesday said the plaintiff in the proposed class action, John Zeman, had provided enough evidence that […]

Threads, Meta‘s challenger to depose Twitter as the go-to platform for celebrities, companies and governments, is now available on the web as it seeks to revive its underwhelming launch. A web version of Threads is seen as key to attracting professionals and media types who are the most active users of social media and post […]

Former US President Donald Trump returned to the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, with a post on Thursday showing his mug shot from his booking at Fulton County Jail in Georgia earlier in the day. With his post appealing for donations, Trump reclaimed direct access to the public on the platform that […]

WhatsApp’s HD video sharing feature has begun rolling out to users on Android, days after the Meta-owned messaging platform rolled out support for sending high-resolution images. Until now, WhatsApp would compress all videos sent on the platform, which resulted in recipients seeing them in lower resolution. While this offered obvious benefits in terms of faster […]

WhatsApp is working on a feature that could improve the experience of a user joining an existing group on the popular messaging app. A feature tracker has shared details of a new WhatsApp setting that will show up to 24 hours of messages from the group, before a member was added to the chat. The feature […]

WhatsApp view-once images and videos allow you to send images and videos to other users that can be opened only once, and the company is working on a tweak to the interface that will make sharing these messages easier than before. According to details shared by WABetaInfo, a WhatsApp feature tracker, the application will allow […]

Meta Platforms is breaking European data privacy rules in Norway, the country’s data regulator told a court on Wednesday, in a case that could have wider European implications. Meta has been fined one million crowns (roughly Rs. 8 crore) per day since August 14 for breaching users’ privacy by harvesting user data and using it […]

Elon Musk is pushing to change how news links appear on his social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, in a move that could potentially undermine the ability of news publishers to draw audience.  X is planning to remove the headline and text while retaining just the lead image from links to news articles shared […]

Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it was launching the web version of its new text-first social media platform Threads, in a bid to retain professional users and gain an edge over rival X, formerly Twitter.  Threads’ users will be able to access the microblogging platform by logging-in to its website from their computers, the Facebook […]

Meta Platforms is set to roll out the web version on its new text-first social media platform Threads, hoping to gain an edge over X, formerly Twitter, as the initial surge in users waned. The widely anticipated web version will make Threads more useful for power users like brands, company accounts, advertisers and journalists. Meta […]

PayPal‘s stablecoin is likely to succeed where Facebook‘s failed, thanks to the payment giant’s standing in Washington and policymakers’ greater understanding of the issues in the last three years.  PayPal this month said it was launching PayPal USD, a crypto token pegged to the US dollar, making it the second major global company to launch […]

WhatsApp is reportedly working on new text formatting tools that could benefit coders, programmers, and software developers. The new feature was recently spotted in the latest WhatsApp for Desktop beta update is said to include three new formatting tools. These new tools will help users share and read codes easily on WhatsApp. The tools could […]

WhatsApp is used as one of the most common apps for instant messaging. One can share pictures, videos, voice note, contacts, location as well as documents with their friends and acquaintances with the help of WhatsApp. However, the Meta-owned app compresses the images, and hence most users opt to other methods for transferring high quality […]

The Canadian government on Friday demanded that Meta lift a “reckless” ban on domestic news from its platforms to allow people to share information about wildfires in the west of the country. Meta started blocking news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms for all users in Canada this month in response to a new law requiring internet giants […]