Social

China will move to crack down on the “chaotic” online celebrity fan culture, the country’s cyberspace regulator said in a notice published on Friday, part of an ongoing state campaign to “rectify” the Internet sector. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it would take action against the dissemination of “harmful information” in celebrity fan

WhatsApp will reportedly make its terms of service optional for users. The Facebook-owned instant messaging service updated its privacy policy and terms of service back in January to better integrate with other products and services offered by Facebook. It faced major backlash from its user base with a number of people jumping ship to Signal

The Delhi High Court Friday asked the Centre to reply to pleas by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging the new IT rules for social media intermediaries requiring the messaging app to “trace” chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of information. The pleas have challenged the new rules on the grounds that they violate

Instagram will launch advertising on its Shop feature globally, the Facebook-owned app said on Tuesday, as it seeks to earn more money from brands hoping to reach new customers. Instagram Shop is a tab on the photo and video sharing app that lets users browse items such as clothes and beauty products and in some

Facebook is considering building products and features related to nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, the digital assets that have taken off with the rise of blockchain technology. “We’re definitely looking at the number of ways to get involved in the space because we think we’re in a really good position to do so,” Facebook executive David

Zoom has added some new features with its latest update this week for desktop, iPad, and Zoom Phone. These include a new Focus Mode, the ability to transfer meetings from mobile to desktop, limiting screen-sharing for meetings with external participants, and automatic reactions from gesture recognition for iPad users, who can now use ‘Raise Hand’

Facebook has approached academics and policy experts about forming a commission to advise it on issues relating to global elections, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter. The proposed body could decide on matters such as political ads and their viability and concerns around election-related misinformation, according

WhatsApp has been spotted working on message reactions to let users express their emotions in response to the messages they receive on the app. This could be similar to how reactions are available on platforms including iMessage, Instagram, and Twitter. Message reactions on WhatsApp may be a new step by the Facebook-owned company to enhance

Twitter Spaces is testing a feature that will make it easier for users to discover the audio-only chat rooms better. Earlier, users were only able to view Spaces of the people they follow if they were hosting. Now, users will be able to view Spaces that the people they follow are listening to. Users also

Canada’s e-commerce giant Shopifysaid on Tuesday it was partnering with TikTok to work on a feature that would let shoppers buy directly from the social media app. Shopify merchants who have a TikTok business account would soon be able to add a shopping tab to their profiles for the first time ever, the company said

Instagram is reportedly getting rid of the swipe up gesture to access links in Stories and replacing it with stickers. Some users have reported that they have received a notification in the app stating this change and that it will be implemented from August 30. Users who post Instagram Stories can add links to them

WhatsApp for Android is getting updated with a new colour scheme that is brighter over the existing one. The change is initially provided to beta testers for testing purposes. However, it would be available publicly if the testing goes fine (as per the required results). The new colour scheme is applicable to both light and

WhatsApp for Android appears to be getting a payment shortcut on the chat bar. The new feature is initially available for beta testers in India. Separately, WhatsApp has launched a beta programme for users on WhatsApp for Desktop to test unannounced features designed for Windows and macOS. WhatsApp for iPhone is also seen to be

Ethiopia has begun developing its own social media platform to rival Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp, though it does not plan to block the global services, the state communications security agency said on Monday. Ethiopia has been engulfed since last year in an armed conflict pitting the federal government against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF),

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn said this week they had moved to secure the accounts of Afghan citizens to protect them against being targeted amid the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country. Facebook has temporarily removed the ability for people to view or search the friends lists of accounts in Afghanistan, its security policy head Nathaniel

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) refreshed its antitrust case against Facebook Inc on Thursday, adding more detail on the accusation the social media company crushed or bought rivals and once again asking a judge to force the social media giant to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. At 80 pages, the new complaint is significantly longer

Facebook has chosen 25 “local” independent journalists to be paid out of a $5 million (roughly Rs. 40 crores) pot to write for its newsletter site Bulletin through multiyear deals, the company told Reuters on Thursday. Facebook launched Bulletin in June as a standalone newsletter subscription service with free and paid articles and podcasts. It

Twitter has announced several changes to direct message (DM) coming in the next few weeks. The microblogging platform shared the development through its official account, announcing that users can now DM a tweet or message to 20 separate conversations. Some of the other changes and improvements include a quick-scroll button, a new action to ‘Add

Facebook is partnering with an Indian online lending firm to help provide loans to small domestic businesses, its country head said on Friday, as part of a push to bring more businesses to advertise on its platform. The social media giant is joining hands with Indifi to help provide loans ranging from Rs. 5,00,000 to

Facebook said Wednesday vaccine “hesitancy” is declining in the United States and other countries, and credits its efforts to filter out misinformation and promote authoritative information for helping the trend. In releasing its quarterly transparency report, Facebook said the latest data showed vaccine hesitancy is down by 50 percent among US users of the social