Page 26 - Social Media Apps

TikTok CEO plans to tell Congress app is safe to use, urge against ban

TikTok's CEO plans to tell Congress that the video-sharing app is committed to user safety, data protection and security, and keeping the platform free from Chinese government influence. Shou Zi Chew is due to answer questions on Thursday from US lawmakers concerned about the social media platform's effects on its young user base and possible national security risks posed by the popular app, which was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs. Chew is sticking to a familiar script as he urges officials against pursuing an all-out ban on TikTok or for the company to be sold off to new owners. TikTok's efforts to ensure the security of its user data, including a USD 1.5 billion project to store the information on Oracle servers in the US and allow outside monitors to inspect its source code, go above and beyond what any of its rivals are doing, according to Chew's prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance before the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce. No other social media ...

Instagram will now put ads in user search results to reach people

Meta-owned Instagram has announced it will put ads into the platform's search results to reach people actively searching for businesses, products and content

WhatsApp introduces new features for groups, gives more control to admins

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of WhatsApp parent Meta, introduced the features on his Instagram Broadcast channel

Social media platform Mastodon hits over 10mn registered accounts

Mastodon had jumped from approximately 300K monthly active users to 2.5 million, which included journalists, political figures, writers, actors and organisations, between last October and November

All social media platforms have TikTok-like risks, says transparency group

All of these platforms have "force-fed children dangerous and harmful content with predatory algorithms, said the group

Twitter will prioritise replies by people you follow, verified: Musk

Musk has said that the micro-blogging platform will open source all code used for recommending tweets on March 31

Meta rolling out its paid verification in US for Instagram, Facebook users

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company is rolling out its paid subscription plan for Facebook and Instagram to users based in the US

It is duty of Twitter to provide details of users: Govt to K'taka HC

The union government has informed the High Court of Karnataka that being a significant intermediary, micro blogging site Twitter has additional responsibility and it was its duty to provide details of account holders. Additional Solicitor General R Sankarnarayanan who appeared for the central government, gave the examples of dangerous tweets that is going to affect the integrity, sovereignty of India or is going to create a public (dis) order; then naturally we will step in and either we will issue a take down notice or we will say block the account. The ASG cited somebody gives a tweet under the assumed name of Government of Pakistan about India Occupied Kashmir, somebody says (V) Prabhakaran (LTTE leader) is a hero and he is coming back. All this is so dangerous that it is going to incite violence. Twitter approached the HC in June 2022 against the take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Twitter claims the government is required

Twitter planning to make custom tab for users to pin their top tweets

Earlier this month, Musk had said that the company is seeking to enable responding to individual direct messages (DM), use any reaction emoji, and encryption on the platform later this month

Snapchat puts parents in control, introduces 'Content Controls' for kids

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has rolled out a new feature for Family Center, called "Content Controls", which will allow parents to limit the type of content their teens watch on the app

Instagram's new feature to let users access recently shared Reels

Meta-owned Instagram is reportedly testing a new feature that will let users quickly access their recently shared Reels, making it easier for them to reshare them later to other friends

Instagram down for users for a few hours worldwide, cause unclear

Users complained about difficulties logging in, uploading photos, and accessing Instagram features

Musk engages in heated exchange with ex-Twitter employee; apologises later

It started when Haraldur Thorleifsson sought clarity on whether the company had fired him or not. Musk replied with mocking replies and talked about Thorleifsson's disability openly

Social media influencers must use words like 'ad' in endorsements: Govt

Celebrities and influencers, who are endorsing products and services on social media platform, should disclose their material interest by using words like advertisement, sponsored, collaboration or paid promotion. In January, the government made it mandatory for social media influencers to disclose their "material" interest in endorsing products and services and violations can attract strict legal action, including ban on endorsements. In an official statement, the department of consumer affairs said it has observed that there is confusion regarding which disclosure word to use for what kind of partnership. For paid or barter brand endorsement, any of the following disclosures can be used: "advertisement", "ad," "sponsored", "collaboration", or "partnership". However, the term must be indicated as hashtag or headline text. The department has already released a set of guidelines called "Endorsements Know-hows!" for celebrities, influencers, and virtual influencers on social media .

TikTok sets new default time limit of 60-minute daily for minor users

TikTok said on Wednesday that every account held by a user under the age of 18 will have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks. The changes arrive during a period in which there are growing concerns among different governments about the app's security. Families have struggled with limiting the amount of time their children spend on the Chinese-owned video sharing app. Cormac Keenan, head of trust and safety at TikTok said in a blog post on Wednesday that when the 60-minute limit is reached, minors will be prompted to enter a passcode receive a passcode and make an active decision to keep watching. For accounts where the user is under the age of 13, a parent or guardian will have to set or enter an existing passcode to allow 30 minutes of extra viewing time once the initial 60-minute limit is reached. TikTok said it came up with the 60-minute threshold by consulting academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's ...

Twitter faces major outage globally again, users report issues with tweets

Micro-blogging platform Twitter on Wednesday faced a major outage globally, with users reporting that the site's timeline is not loading on either the web or mobile apps

Twitter officially launches 'Violent Speech' policy, updates rules

Micro-blogging platform Twitter on Wednesday announced that it has updated its rules on violent content and similar language, and has now officially launched its Violent Speech policy

Decoded: How the GACs will respond to grievances of online users

Users must appeal to the GAC within 30 days of receiving a communication from a grievance officer in case of a dispute

US ban on Chinese apps including TikTok a sign of its insecurity: China

U.S. government bans on Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok reveal Washington's own insecurities and are an abuse of state power, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday. The U.S. government has been overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power to suppress other countries' companies," Mao Ning said at a daily briefing. How unsure of itself can the U.S., the world's top superpower, be to fear a favourite young person's favourite app to such a degree? TikTok is used by two-thirds of American teens, but there's concern in Washington that China could use its legal and regulatory powers to obtain private user data or to try to push misinformation or narratives favoring China. Congress and more than half of U.S. states have so-far banned TikTok from government-issued mobile devices. Some have also moved to apply the ban to any app or website owned by ByteDance Ltd., the private Chinese company owning TikTok that moved its headquarters to Singap

Danish parliament urges lawmakers to delete TikTok over threat of espionage

The Danish parliament on Tuesday urged lawmakers and employees with the 179-member assembly against having TikTok on work phones as a cybersecurity measure, saying there is a risk of espionage. The popular video-sharing app, which is Chinese-owned, faces intensifying scrutiny from Europe and the US over security and data privacy amid worries that TikTok could be used to promote pro-Beijing views or sweep up users' information. Danish parliamentary Speaker Soren Gade said that an email had been sent out Tuesday to lawmakers and employees with a strong recommendation that you delete the TikTok app if you have previously installed it. The assembly acted after an assessment from Denmark's Center for Cyber Security, which had said there was a risk of espionage. The agency is part of Denmark's foreign intelligence service. We adapt accordingly, Gade said in a statement. It wasn't immediately known how many Danish lawmakers have TikTok installed. In recent days, several politicians have