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Chinese-owned social media site TikTok told US senators it was working on a final agreement with the Biden Administration that would “fully safeguard user data and US national security interests,” according to a letter seen Friday by Reuters. TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew told senators in a letter dated Thursday that the short video

WhatsApp Reactions updated beta version is being rolled out to a bunch of testers for both Android and iOS, as per a report. This new feature will allow WhatsApp users to react to messages by using any available emoji on the keyboard. Currently, there are only six reaction options available for users on both the

Facebook parent Meta Platforms has reportedly reduced its target for hiring engineers in 2022 to around 6,000-7,000, down from an initial plan to hire about 10,000 new engineers. According to Reuters, the statement comes Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who cited the figure during a weekly employee Q&A session on Thursday. In another update, Meta

A 2019 poll found that children would rather be YouTubers than astronauts. It made headlines and led to plenty of grumbling about “kids these days”. But it’s not surprising that young people – up to 1.3 million in the UK – want to make their income by creating social media content. The global influencer market

Facebook is testing out a couple of new features for Groups. These features include a new easy way to access users’ favourite Facebook Groups, along with the introduction of chat, audio, and feed channels. Facebook group admins will now be able to create channels in the groups that are focused spaces for people to connect

Snap on Wednesday launched a paid version of the Snapchat app in the US, priced at $3.99 (nearly Rs. 315) a month, and a few other markets, in a major step away from a revenue model dependent mostly on advertising. Snap, which had teased the subscription version, Snapchat+, earlier this month, said the paid service

The government has issued a notice to Twitter to comply with all its past orders by July 4, an official source said on Wednesday. The Ministry of Electronics and IT has set a deadline of July 4, failing which Twitter may lose intermediary status, which means it will be liable for all the comments posted

Facebook and Instagram have begun promptly removing posts that offer abortion pills to women who may not be able to access them following a Supreme Court decision that stripped away constitutional protections for the procedure. Such social media posts ostensibly aimed to help women living in states where preexisting laws banning abortion suddenly snapped into

Amazon has placed a temporary purchase limit of three units per week on emergency contraceptive pills, the company said on Tuesday. The move comes days after the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe vs Wade ruling that recognised women’s constitutional right to abortion. Women with unwanted pregnancies in the country now may face

As many as 54 percent of people in India turn to social media when looking for factual information, according to a global study by Oxford University Press (OUP). The research-led campaign ‘The Matter of Fact’ looked at the level of understanding of how truths are identified and sources validated. Despite concerns around misinformation and false

Twitter was allegedly ordered by the Indian government in 2021 to block 2020 tweets by Freedom House in India that reported the declining Internet freedom in the country. The social media company is said to have only enforced the order on Sunday. It also blocked some tweets and/ or handles of various other users who

The company planning to buy Donald Trump’s new social media business has disclosed a federal grand jury investigation that, it says, could impede or even prevent its acquisition of the Truth Social app. Shares of Digital World Acquisition dropped 10 percent in morning trading on Monday as the company revealed that it has received subpoenas

Journalist Rana Ayyub has posted a notice from Twitter which informed her that the microblogging site has withheld her account in India under Information Technology Act, 2000. Ayyub on Sunday took to her Twitter account to post the notice and said: “Hello @Twitter, what exactly is this?” The notice from Twitter that Ayyub shared read:

Payments on Whatsapp launched a cashback campaign for users across the country. RazorpayX, the neo-banking arm of Razorpay, has been onboarded as the technology partner of Payments on WhatsApp to enable a smooth cashback experience via UPI for its users across the country. Users using UPI to make payments on WhatsApp receive cashback and as

Spain’s defence minister Margarita Robles warned on Friday of a possible cyberattack during the NATO summit in Madrid next week. Asked if Spain feared Russia could launch such an attack, Robles told journalists “the possibility of a cyberattack exists”, without mentioning the country by name. “There are many challenges and many threats,” she said, adding

A group of six Republican senators on Friday asked the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about an ongoing Biden administration national security review of social media platform TikTok. The US government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security risks, in 2020 ordered Chinese

iOS and Android users will now be able to use Twitter’s closed caption toggle. The micro-blogging site recently announced that a button to toggle captions for its video player is now available for everyone on iOS and Android. The button, which shows up in the top-right corner of the video if it has captions available,

Social media personality Khaby Lame has achieved a new record of garnering 142.8 million followers on the short-form video hosting service, TikTok. Lame, has surged past popular TikTok video creator Charli D’Amelio who currently has 142.3 million followers, reported Variety. The 22-year-old’s video content includes reacting to absurd life-hack videos and recreating the video himself

The UN called on countries to stop imposing internet shutdowns or disruptions, warning Thursday that they can have dire and even deadly consequences. In a fresh report, the UN rights office warned that “the dramatic real-life effects of shutdowns on the lives and human rights of millions of people are vastly underappreciated.” “Hospitals being unable

The Indian government’s proposal to set up a grievances appellate panel follows several complaints that social media platforms are not adequately redressing the issues raised by the people, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Thursday. The Minister of State for Electronics and IT held an open house discussion with stakeholders on a draft notification to