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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has crossed the massive milestone of 100 million followers on Instagram, making him the first world leader and politician to achieve this feat on the platform, officials said on Thursday. Prime Minister Modi joined Instagram in 2014, and over the past decade, his account has evolved into one of the most engaging digital spaces among global leaders, officials said. Among major global leaders, Modi now has the highest number of Instagram followers. He has more than twice as many followers as US President Donald Trump on the social media platform. The combined follower count of the next five major world leaders is still lower than Modi's individual total, officials said. US President Donald Trump holds the second spot with 43.2 million followers. He is followed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto with 15 million followers, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with 14.4 million followers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with 11.6 milli
Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people's use of Instagram, his congressional testimony and internal advice he's received about being "authentic" and not "robotic." Zuckerberg's testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children. Attorneys representing the plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, claim her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled. Beginning his questioning, the plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier laid out three options of what people can do regarding vulnerable people: help them, ignore them, or "prey upon them and use them for our own ends." Zuckerberg said he agrees the last opti
Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta's Instagram, testified during a landmark social media trial in Los Angeles that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms. The question of addiction is a key pillar of the case, where plaintiffs seek to hold social media companies responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled. At the core of the Los Angeles case is a 20-year-old identified only by the initials "KGM", whose lawsuit could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials - essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury. Mosseri said on Wednesday that it's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and what he called problematic use. The plaintiff's ..
TikTok agreed to settle a landmark social media addiction lawsuit just before the trial kicked off, the plaintiff's attorneys confirmed. The social video platform was one of three companies - along with Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube - facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc, settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum. Details of the settlement with TikTok were not disclosed, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials "KGM," whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials - essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresiden
Meta is halting teens' access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily, the company said in a blog post Friday. Meta Platforms Inc, which own Instagram and WhatsApp, said that starting in the "coming weeks," teens will no longer be able to access AI characters "until the updated experience is ready" This applies to anyone who gave Meta a birthday that makes them a minor, as well as "people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology." The move comes the week before Meta - along with TikTok and Google's YouTube - is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles over its apps' harms to children. Teens will still be able to access Meta's AI assistant, just not the characters. Other companies have also banned teens from AI chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of artificial intelligence conversations on children. Character.AI announced its ban last fall. That company is facing several lawsuits over child safety, .