Social

Becoming a social media influencer requires minimum capital but a lot of talent. It gives a person flexibility in terms of working hours among other perks that come with being famous. Naturally, the competition is fierce. But artificial intelligence (AI) is now taking humans out of the game. Using AI, companies are creating virtual human models that

Discord has raised $500 million (roughly Rs. 3,680 cores) in a new funding round led by investment firm Dragoneer Investment Group, a company spokesperson said. The deal values the company at about $15 billion (roughly Rs. 1,10,160 crores), Bloomberg News had reported earlier. Discord declined to comment on the valuation. Baillie Gifford & Co, Coatue

Facebook’s messaging service WhatsApp on Wednesday launched a new feature to make it possible to search for businesses within its app for the first time, the company told Reuters. The test in São Paulo, Brazil, which allows WhatsApp users to find shops and services through a directory in the app, is the latest feature in

WhatsApp is reportedly receiving an update that will further extend its multi-device functionality. The update now makes it possible for non-beta users to join the multi-device beta program for a future update, as per WABetaInfo. The multi-device functionality lets users link up to four devices apart from their primary device. With the new functionality, users

Unicode Consortium — the non-profit organisation that approves and standardises emojis — on Tuesday, September 15, announced the launch of Unicode 14.0 that brings a bunch of new characters and emojis. The Unicode Consortium has released a list of 37 new emoji characters that will be available on Android, iPhone, and other devices later this

TikTok’s lead data privacy regulator in the European Union has opened two inquiries into the Chinese-owned short-video platform related to the processing of children’s personal data and transfers of personal data to China. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which is lead EU regulator for many of the world’s top Internet firms due to the location of

WhatsApp for Android is reportedly testing timer settings for its Disappearing messages feature. The instant messaging app owned by Facebook is currently working on Disappearing Mode and, as per a new report, it is working to let Android users set different timings for its ephemeral messages in its privacy. The latest update is reportedly spotted

Russia fined Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday for not deleting banned content, adding to a slew of penalties the government has already imposed on foreign tech giants. Russia has been tightening controls over US-based tech companies and last week accused them of interfering in parliamentary polls due later this month. A court in Moscow slapped

China fired a fresh regulatory shot at its tech giants on Monday, telling them to end a long-standing practice of blocking each other’s links on their sites or face consequences. The comments, made by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) at a news briefing, mark the latest step in Beijing’s broad regulatory crackdown that

Facebook-owned social media platform Instagram has been testing a new feature that will allow its users to mark other users as their Favourites. According to The Verge, Favourites will let users categorize their most important Instagram accounts (friends and creators) as their priorities so that the posts by these marked handles will land “higher” in the

Yahoo on Friday named dating app Tinder’s boss Jim Lanzone as its chief executive officer, just days after Apollo Global Management Inc completed its purchase of the online media company from Verizon Communications Inc. Apollo on September 1 closed its $5 billion acquisition of Verizon Media and renamed it Yahoo after Verizon’s iconic digital brand. AOL,

Twitch is suing two users in US federal court, accusing them of orchestrating ‘hate raids’ spewing abuse at video game play streamers who are not white or straight. The Amazon-owned platform is seeking unspecified cash damages from the pair, identified in the lawsuit as a Netherlands resident behind the account CruzzControl and a Vienna resident

US Democratic Representative Adam Schiff called on Facebook and Amazon.com Inc on Thursday to provide a more thorough explanation of their efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. “Despite some concrete and positive steps previously taken, these companies owe both the public and the Congress additional answers about the exponential and dangerous proliferation of

WhatsApp is set to soon roll out end-to-end encrypted cloud backups on Android and iOS. The new move will help users keep their chats end-to-end encrypted even when they are a part of WhatsApp backups stored on a cloud service such as Apple iCloud or Google Drive. WhatsApp has worked from scratch to enable anticipated end-to-end

Facebook’s Ray-Ban Stories ‘smart’ glasses were launched on Thursday, September 9. The wearable is available in three designs and multiple colour options for frames. Customers will also have the option to select different kinds of lenses, depending on their needs. Facebook’s Ray-Ban Stories come with dual 5-megapixel cameras that can capture images and 30-second videos.

Facebook has made a case for not selling Giphy in a strongly worded response to Britain’s competition regulator, and the tech firm questioned the watchdog’s call for divesting the GIF website over access and anti-competitive concerns. Facebook argued that “the inability of the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) to issue any order against Giphy raises

Snapchat has introduced a new Birthdays Mini feature in India and other countries to allow users to keep a track of all their friends’ birthdays easily. With the latest feature, users can also get personal greetings and birthday messages from their friends on the platform. The new feature on the photo- and video-sharing platform will

Google Pixel 6 series has been teased through a post on Instagram and a promotional video on YouTube. The Instagram post shows a dozen Google Pixel 6 smartphones with different coloured wallpapers on each. The post is a play on the cover from Grammy-winning artist Drake’s latest album, “Certified Lover Boy.” The YouTube video shows

South Korean engineer Shaun has big plans to develop the parcels of land he has snapped up for millions of won (thousands of dollars) in recent years into long-term moneyspinners. “I’m planning to design my building which is suitable to host K-pop live performances and K-drama screenings,” the 30-year-old investor told Reuters. “That can probably

WhatsApp chat history may soon be migrated from an Android phone to an iPhone as a reference to the feature has appeared online. The Facebook-owned company introduced the much-anticipated chat migration tool last month, but it is initially limited to iOS users. However, WhatsApp is now found to be working on expanding the migration feature